The reader that would have the delightful experience of falling- in love with the Carters' serving-maid must read 'Much Ado About Peter' by Jean Webster. And, incidentally, she who would rather not fall in love with the Carters' groom had better avoid this collection of short stories about Annie O'Reilly and Peter Malone. These ten tales of life from the viewpoint of those below stairs all have the same hero and heroine, and the fact that the conclusion brings them to the usual fate of lovers gives the book the semblance of a novel. Besides Annie and Peter, the gardener Vittorio, late of the Bersaglieri Corps, who fought Menelek in Abyssinia, makes a palpable showing in a bid for the reader's sympathy. How the meek Italian gave Peter and the coachman a lesson in target shooting makes a story which will give the ordinary person a choky feeling in the region of his sentiment. There is much crisp dialogue, and a good deal of sunshiny humor throughout, and if some of the escapades related seem a little less than realistic, the wholesome preachments to which they act as vehicles are none the less pertinent and enjoyable.
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Jean Webster. Much Ado About Peter
CONTENTS:
I. GERVIE ZAME, GERVIE DOOR
II. THE RUFFLED FROCK
III. THEIR INNOCENT DIVERSIONS
IV. DIGNITY AND THE ELEPHANT
V. THE RISE OF VITTORIO
VI. HELD FOR RANSOM
VII. GEORGE WASHINGTON'S UNDERSTUDY
VIII. A USURPED PREROGATIVE
IX. MRS. CARTER AS FATE
X. A PARABLE FOR HUSBANDS
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Much Ado About Peter
JEAN WEBSTER
.....
Later in the evening the men were lounging in a clump of laurels at one side of the carriage-house, where a hammock and several battered veranda chairs had drifted out from the house for the use of the stable hands. Simpkins, who occasionally unbent sufficiently to join them, was with the party to-night, and he heard the story of Peter's latest perfidy. Simpkins could sympathize with Billy; his own sensibilities had been sadly lacerated in the matter of Annette. Joe leaned back and smoked comfortably, lending his voice occasionally to the extent of a grunt. The grooms' differences were nothing to him, but they served their purpose as amusement.
Presently the roll of wheels sounded on the gravel, and they all strained forward with alert interest. The driveway leading to the back door swerved broadly past the laurels, and—as Peter had remarked—it was a bright moonlight night. The cart came into view, bowling fast, Peter as stiff as a ramrod staring straight ahead, while beside him sat a brawny Negro woman twice his size, with rolling black eyes and gleaming white teeth. An explosion sounded from the laurels, and Peter, who knew what it meant, cut Trixy viciously.
