The Upas Tree. A Christmas story for all the year.

The great charm of the story is that it is so essentially Irish. Country and people are so lovingly, so feelingly, so understanding described. The characters are strikingly original creations, finely conceived and consistently developed. Its literary style is all that the most critical would ask. Ronald West stood at the window of his wife's sitting-room, looking across the bright garden-borders to the wide park beyond, and wondering how on earth he should open the subject of which his mind had been full during their morning ride. He had swung off his own horse a few moments before; thrown the bridle to a waiting groom, and made his way round to her stirrup. Then he had laid his hand upon Silverheels' mane, and looking up into his wife's glowing, handsome face, he had said: "May I come to your room for a talk, Helen? I have something very important to tell you."