* * * * *
In the very improving books which I had to read long ago the hero or
heroine usually had a cross to bear. They bore it with great fortitude, and
frequently died young. When therefore I opened Mr. JEROME K. JEROME'S _All
Roads Lead to Calvary_ (HUTCHINSON) I fancied I knew what to expect. I read
that _Joan Allway_ was possessed of remarkable beauty, a "Stevensonian
touch" and suitable introductions to editors and newspaper proprietors, and
that from the pulpit of a column in the evening Press, with her photograph
at the top, she attempted to reform the world. I don't know how the
photograph came out, but there was apparently no martyrdom so far.
Afterwards she began to encourage and inspire _Robert Phillips_, a Labour
M.P. and future Cabinet Minister, and at the same time to be kind to and
educate _Mrs. Phillips_, who was good-natured, vulgar and middle-aged.
Falling gradually in love with the politician, she withdrew only just in
time, nursed in a French hospital, married a journalist friend and settled
down happily with him to reform a little bit of the world at a time, and
that the part nearest to hand.
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