ABSTRACT
Mr. Wilkie Collins is an admirable story-teller, though he is not a great novelist. His plots are framed with artistic ingenuity-he unfolds them bit by bit, clearly, and with great care-and each chapter is a most skilful sequel to the chapter before. He does not attempt to paint character or passion. He is not in the least imaginative. He is not by any means a master of pathos. The fascination which he exercises over the mind of his reader consists in this-that he is a good constructor. Each of his stories is a puzzle, the key to which is not handed to us till the third volume. Each part is elaborated only so far as is consistent with its due subordination to the whole. He allows nothing to distract our attention from the narrative, or to induce us to forget that what he is putting before us is a riddle, and has its answer. The great object of the author-the one man who is behind the scenes-is to say what he has got to say so well as to make us follow up the thread he gives us right on to the very end. At the end comes the explanation. The secret spring is touched-the lock flies open-the novel is done. Mr. Wilkie Collins is content to accept from us the kind of homage that a skilful talker extorts from his audience. We have heard him with eager curiosity to the close. We have spent some exciting hours over the charade, and have been at last obliged to come to him in despair for the solution.
