And, if widower _Ditmar_, man of iron, for whom the
Chippering Mill is his second and abiding mate, be no hero, _Janet_,
his typist, has the makings of a notable heroine. How this girl,
full of character and of passion bravely restrained, breaks down the
business preoccupation of her chief and how her courage and steadfast
honour convince him that the liaison he promised himself will not
suffice for honour or purified desire--all this is finely told. It
was, however, but a faltering and slowly-growing conviction, and death
claims him before he can make amends for the wrong into which his
masterful pleading has betrayed her. I never quite precisely gathered
what was "the dwelling-place of light." Anyway it wasn't the
Chippering Mill ... But I was sorry when I reached the four hundred
and ninth and last of the closely-set pages. Good measure for a book
in war-time.
* * * * *
Throughout a vagabond career that began in happiness on a farm and
finished, thankfully, amongst the fields, _Frank Rainger_ followed
always the pathway of the broader experience. Followed it so stoutly
and was such good company on the long road that whether it was high
holiday at Cranbrook Circus with _Maggie Coalbran_, or a fight for
the hopeless cause of the Southern States in shell-torn Vicksburg, or
only the keeping of eternal lazy summer with the peons of Yucatan, I
was altogether content to go humbly forward with him, convinced that,
as it was written, so and no otherwise should it be.
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