The king and queen went into the forest.
They were walking hand in hand.
Night drew on. The wind rustled through the tree-tops.
The queen stood still for a moment and then, impelled by the ardent love she had so long repressed, embraced her husband, kissing his eyes, his mouth and his brow, and said:
"I've asked the departed one to forgive me! She died with my kiss on her lips. I now ask you who still live, to forgive me. You have both expiated--she, alone, by herself; you, alone, while at my side!"
She took out an amulet which she had worn hidden next to her heart. It was the betrothal ring which the king had given to her.
"Take this ring, and put it on your hand," she said.
"We are united anew," replied the king, while he put the ring on his finger and embraced the queen. He clasped her in his arms and her head rested against his heart.
With a firm step, they descended the mountain unto where their carriages were waiting for them.
Followed by the servants, Bronnen, Sixtus, and Paula also descended the mountain.
The king and queen were in the first carriage; Paula and Sixtus in the second. Bronnen went back with Gunther to the cottage.
The newly espoused arrived at the dairy-farm. The first thing they did was to go to the crown prince's apartments and, while they stood at the child's bed, the king said:
"He sleeps, and his innocent, infant mind knows nothing of our differences. It is well for us that, with his dawning powers, he will see in us only love and harmony, enduring unto death."
During all that night, the king and queen sat by the lamp, reading the journal of the solitary worldling.
Gunther and Bronnen had lingered in the hut above. Gunther sat with Walpurga for a while, holding her hand in his, while he told her that her perfect innocence had now been brought to light. A silent nod was her only reply.
The cows gathered about the hut. Their bellowing and snorting proved that their unerring instinct told them of the presence of death, and scarcely were they driven away, before they returned again.
The little pitchman dug a grave during the night. It was up at the spot where Irma had so often rested. He shed many a tear over his work, and once, when he paused to take breath, said to himself: "When the kid is old enough to run of itself, I'll let it go back into the woods."
Irma was buried at early dawn. Hansei, the little pitchman, Gunther and Bronnen carried her, Walpurga and the child following after them. Gundel and Franz had covered the sides and the bottom of the grave with Alpine roses. Wrapped in the queen's white mantle, Irma was silently laid to rest, just as the rosy dawn appeared in the east.
Down in the valley, the king and queen had been reading Irma's journal. Day was breaking. They gazed at the rosy dawn and lifted their eyes to the mountains--to where Irma was being buried on the heights.
Footnote 1: The familiar "thou."
Footnote 2: Kammer--meaning here the chamberlain and other officers composing the household.
Footnote 3: Church festival.
Footnote 4: "Geh zum Kukuk!"]
Footnote 5: "He who goes up with the cattle into the mountains, during the good season, is a 'Senn.' In Switzerland, this is done by men; in the Eastern Alps, in the Bavarian highlands, and in Austria, generally by women--the 'Sennerin,' 'Almerin.'"
(The Alps--H. Berlepsch.)
"The first great English novel that has appeared in the 20th century."--Lewis Melville inN. Y. Times Saturday Review.
ByWilliam De Morgan. 4th Printing. $1.75.
A notable novel of life near London in the fifties.
From Mr. Melville's article in theTimes Review: "It is epic in its conception, magnificent in its presentment.... 'Joseph Vance' is a book for laughter and for tears, and for smiles mingled with an occasional sob, that triumph achieved only by the best of humorists.... One of the tenderest figures in modern fiction.... I write this before the appearance of 'Alice-for-short.' ... 'Joseph Vance,' in my opinion, is the book not of the last year, but of the last decade; the best thing in fiction since 'Mr. Meredith and Mr. Hardy'; a book that must take its place, by virtue of its tenderness and pathos, its wit and humor, its love of human kind, and its virile characterization, as the first great English novel that has appeared in the twentieth century."
ByWilliam De Morgan. 4th Printing. $1.75.
The experiences, some of them decidedly dramatic, of a London waif, the artist who was kind to her, and of his family and friends.
Dial: "'Joseph Vance' was far and away the best novel of the year, and of many years.... Mr. De Morgan's second novel proves to be no less remarkable, and equally productive of almost unalloyed delight.... The reader is hereby warned that if he skims 'Alice-for-short' it will be to his own serious loss. The cream reaches to the dregs.... A story of extraordinary interest.... A remarkable example of the art of fiction at its noblest."
N. Y. Times Review: "He is no more afraid to set down the little language of lovers and children and mothers than he is to deal with murder or suicide or ghosts.... These two novels of his seem to us to prove not only that the English novel is not dead, but that it is safe to develop on the lines laid down by the old masters."
Henry Holt and Company
The Literary Digestsays: "The novels of May Sinclair make waste paper of most of the fiction of a season." This new story, the first written since "The Divine Fire," will strengthen the author's reputation. It has been serialized inThe Atlantic Monthly, andThe New York Sunsays of an early instalment:
"Miss Sinclair's new novel, 'The Helpmate,' is attracting much attention. It is a miniature painting of delicacy and skill, reproducing few characters in a small space, with fine sincerity,--the invalid sister, the man with a past, and the wife with strict convictions. The riddle is to find which one of the women is the helpmate. In the vital situation thus far developed the sister is leading in the race."
"Miss Sinclair's new novel, 'The Helpmate,' is attracting much attention. It is a miniature painting of delicacy and skill, reproducing few characters in a small space, with fine sincerity,--the invalid sister, the man with a past, and the wife with strict convictions. The riddle is to find which one of the women is the helpmate. In the vital situation thus far developed the sister is leading in the race."
As the plot develops the canvas is filled in with other characters as finely drawn. The story grips the reader. Lovers of good literature and of a good story will delight in its development.
The story of the regeneration of a London poet and the degeneration of a London critic. 15th printing. $1.50.
Mary Mossin theAtlantic Monthly: "Certain it is that in all our new fiction I have found nothing worthy to compare with 'The Divine Fire,' nothing even remotely approaching the same class."
The story of a pretty little woman with the soul of a spoiled child, who had a fatal fascination for most men. 3d printing. $1.50.
Literary Digest: "Humor is of the spontaneous sort and rings true, and the lancet of her wit and epigram, tho keen, is never cruel.... An author whose novels may be said to make waste paper of most of the fiction of a season."
The story of two highly contrasted teachers in a girls' school. 2d printing. $1.25.
New York Sun: "It makes one wonder if in future years the quiet little English woman may not be recognised as a new Jane Austen."
Chicago Record-Herald: "Maintains a clinging grip upon the mind and senses, compelling one to acknowledge the author's genius."
Rostand, Hauptmann, Sudermann,Pinero, Shaw, Phillips, Maeterlinck
ByProf. EDWARD EVERETT HALE. Jr.of Union College. With gilt top. $1.50 net. (By mail, $1.60.)
An informal discussion of their principal plays and of the performances of some of them. A few of those considered areMan and Superman,Candida,Cyrano de Bergerac,L'Aiglon,The Sunken Bell,Magda,Ulysses,Letty,Iris, andPelleasandMelisande. The volume opens with a paper "On Standards of Criticism," and concludes with "Our Idea of Tragedy," and an appendix of all the plays of each author, with dates of their first performance or publication.
Bookman: "He writes in a pleasant, free-and-easy way.... He accepts things chiefly at their face value, but he describes them so accurately and agreeably that he recalls vividly to mind the plays we have seen and the pleasure we have found in them."New York Evening Post: "It is not often nowadays that a theatrical book can be met with so free from gush and mere eulogy, or so weighted by common sense ... an excellent chronological appendix and full index ... uncommonly useful for reference."Dial: "Noteworthy example of literary criticism in one of the most interesting of literary fields.... Provides a varied menu of the most interesting character.... Prof. Hale establishes confidential relations with the reader from the start.... Very definite opinions, clearly reasoned and amply fortified by example.... Well worth reading a second time."New York Tribune: "Both instructive and entertaining."Brooklyn Eagle: "A dramatic critic who is not just 'busting' himself with Titanic intellectualities, but who is a readable dramatic critic.... Mr. Hale is a modest and sensible, as well as an acute and sound critic.... Most people will be surprised and delighted with Mr. Hale's simplicity, perspicuity, and ingenuousness."New York Dramatic Mirror: "Though one may not always agree with Mr. Hale's opinions, yet one always finds that he has something interesting to say, and that he says it well. Entertaining and generally instructive without being pedantic."The Theatre: "A pleasing lightness of touch.... Very readable book."
Bookman: "He writes in a pleasant, free-and-easy way.... He accepts things chiefly at their face value, but he describes them so accurately and agreeably that he recalls vividly to mind the plays we have seen and the pleasure we have found in them."
New York Evening Post: "It is not often nowadays that a theatrical book can be met with so free from gush and mere eulogy, or so weighted by common sense ... an excellent chronological appendix and full index ... uncommonly useful for reference."
Dial: "Noteworthy example of literary criticism in one of the most interesting of literary fields.... Provides a varied menu of the most interesting character.... Prof. Hale establishes confidential relations with the reader from the start.... Very definite opinions, clearly reasoned and amply fortified by example.... Well worth reading a second time."
New York Tribune: "Both instructive and entertaining."
Brooklyn Eagle: "A dramatic critic who is not just 'busting' himself with Titanic intellectualities, but who is a readable dramatic critic.... Mr. Hale is a modest and sensible, as well as an acute and sound critic.... Most people will be surprised and delighted with Mr. Hale's simplicity, perspicuity, and ingenuousness."
New York Dramatic Mirror: "Though one may not always agree with Mr. Hale's opinions, yet one always finds that he has something interesting to say, and that he says it well. Entertaining and generally instructive without being pedantic."
The Theatre: "A pleasing lightness of touch.... Very readable book."
Translated into rhymed verse in the metre of the original byGeorge Henry Needler, of University College, Toronto. Gilt top, 335 pp. 12mo. $1.75 net (by mail $1.87).
Prof. H. C. G. Brandt,Hamilton College,Clinton, N. Y.: "It is the best English translation, without question. The translator shows his good judgment when he retains the original strophe, the characteristic last half-verse with its four ictus included. That a Germanist could write an introduction of only 36 pages to such a much-discussed epic will be a marvel to his fellows. But it contains all the general reader wants and needs to know."
N. Y. Evening Post: "At last we have an English translation of theNibelungenliedwhich is in every way worthy of the original."
N. Y. Times Review: "The book stands in no need of any apology.... The scholarly introduction deserves unqualified praise."
Buffalo Commercial: "This version, it is safe to say, is the best ever published in our language."
AUS DEUTSCHEN MEISTERWERKEN (Nibelungen, Parcival, Gudrun, Tristan und Isolde). Erzählt von Sigmon M. Stern. With a full vocabulary, xxvii + 225 pp. 16mo. $1.20.
A simple versionin Germanof those great German legends which every educated person should know. Under Parcival, the legend of Lohengrin is also told. The stories are broken up into short easy chapters, and written in such simple German that no editorial matter, beyond a few words of introduction, has been thought necessary.
A simple versionin Germanof those great German legends which every educated person should know. Under Parcival, the legend of Lohengrin is also told. The stories are broken up into short easy chapters, and written in such simple German that no editorial matter, beyond a few words of introduction, has been thought necessary.
WAGNER'S RING OF THE NIBELUNGByG. T. Dippold.Revised Edition, 12mo. $1.50.
The mythological basis is explained. (76 pp.) Then the stories of the four music dramas are given with translations of many passages and some description of the music. (160 pp.)
The mythological basis is explained. (76 pp.) Then the stories of the four music dramas are given with translations of many passages and some description of the music. (160 pp.)