For though he can be a
realist when necessary (as in the case of Wallis Budge, to which
I shall refer directly), he does not hesitate to trust to the
impressionist sketch when the situation demands it.
Wallis Budge is apparently the hero of the taie; at any rate, the
author devotes most space to him--some hundred and twenty lines
or so. He does not appear until page 341, by which time we are on
familiar terms with some two or three thousand of the less
important characters. It is typical of the writer that, once he
has described a character to us, has (so to speak) set him on his
feet, he appears to lose interest in his creation, and it is only
rarely that further reference is made to him. Alfred Budd, for
instance, who became British Vice-Consul of San Sebastian in
1907, and resides, as the intelligent reader will have guessed,
at the San Sebastian British Vice-Consulate, obtains the M.V.O.
in 1908. Nothing is said, however, of the resultant effect on his
character, nor is any adequate description given--either then or
later--of the San Sebastian scenery. On the other hand, Bucy, who
first appears on page 340, turns up again on page 644 as the
Marquess de Bucy, a Grandee of Spain. I was half-expecting that
the body would be discovered about this time, but the author is
still busy over his protagonists, and only leaves the Marquess in
order to introduce to us his three musketeers, de Bunsen, de
Burgh, and de Butts.
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