Mr. Carden has made a notable contribution to the voluminous literature connected with Edwin Drood, for which he is entitled to the warm gratitude of all students of the subject, whatever views they may happen to possess regarding the plot of the story and its solution. He has evidently scrutinized the manuscript with meticulous care, and has successfully deciphered many interesting passages which, for various reasons, had been deleted by Dickens. It is probably now possible to say that everything emanating directly or indirectly from Dickens in connection with the story is known. Mr. Carden has, however, gone considerably further than this, in that with vivid imagination and not a little literary skill he has sketched out a solution of the story upon entirely novel and highly interesting lines. Starting from the hint given by Forster that the originality of the story was to have been a review of the murderer's career told by himself as if not he, but some other man, were the tempted, Mr. Carden has constructed, largely from Dickens's own materials, a series of episodes, in which he very skilfully propounds his own solution of some of the problems in which the fragment abounds.

Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the success of his efforts, no doubt can be felt that he has stated his case forcibly and ingeniously, and the novelty of his method, combined with his considerable literary skill, render his book both interesting and exciting. It may safely be said that henceforward it will be as indispensable to all students of the subject as the well-known works of Dr. H. Jackson, Mr. J. Cuming .Walters, and Sir W. R. Nicoll.

Stated in barest outline, Mr. Carden's theory is that Jasper murdered Edwin at a spot in the path in the immediate proximity of the steps leading into the burial ground; that the corpse was hidden in the sarcophagus of Edwin's father, Mrs. Sapsea's monument being used as a receptacle or halfway house for the lime and spade which Jasper 'borrowed' from Durdles' yard; that learning from Bazzard of the existence of the ring, and determining to recover it in order to secrete it in Neville's chambers and thus convict him of the crime, he repaired secretly to the sarcophagus, only to find himself confronted by Helena disguised in her brother's clothes. After a murderous attack upon her he fled into the cathedral tower, pursued by Neville, Datchery (who is Tartar plus a wig), Crisparkle, Lobley, and Durdles. Neville is thrown over the tower and killed, and Jasper attempts to escape by climbing down to the leads of the roof, but by means of ropes brought from the belfry, Tartar, Lobley, and Crisparkle follow him, and he is overpowered, thrown into jail, and finally executed, after having written his confession in the manner hinted at by Dickens.

While there is nothing impossible about this theory, either as a whole or in its details, it nevertheless does not carry complete conviction in the sense that the reader feels constrained to say — 'Yes, that is undoubtedly what Dickens meant, and he can have meant no other.' There is no illuminating flash, no brilliant discovery, similar to the identification of Datchery with Helena; rather is it a somewhat hazardous logical inference drawn from a certain number of facts and various unsupported and hypothetical assumptions.

Of course, that is not to say that Mr. Carden's theory is definitely erroneous, but merely that, notwithstanding his great ingenuity, he has not succeeded in establishing it upon an unassailable basis. The test of any theory is its complete concordance with all the known data; if any single fact proves to be irreconcilable, then the theory is unsound.

Now, we are told by Dickens himself that he had 'a very curious and new idea for his new story; not a communicable idea, or the interest of the book would be gone, but a very strong one, though difficult to work.' Neither as a whole, nor in any of its elements, does the plot, as Mr. Carden expounds it, correspond to Dickens's clear and definite statement. There is no incommunicable fact, the disclosure of which would rob the story of its interest; there is no very curious and new idea, no very strong one, difficult to work.

Again, in Dickens's 'Plans' we find the following notes: 'Edwin disappears. THE MYSTERY. DONE ALREADY. 'The words 'done already' can apparently only refer to 'the mystery,' and their obvious meaning is that the mystery, whatever it was, had, at the time the note was made, already been woven into the story. It is, perhaps, an arguable proposition that Edwin's disappearance constituted the mystery, but on the one hand, the apposition of 'Edwin disappears' to 'the mystery' renders this interpretation highly improbable, and, on the other hand, it is difficult to conceive how the murder of Edwin can have been regarded by Dickens as incommunicable,'or very strong, or difficult to work.

Further, although Mr. Carden recognizes that Jasper's search for the ring leads to his detection and capture, the use which he makes of it is hardly proportionate to Dickens's solemn and impressive utterance, that among the mighty store of wonderful chains that are for ever forging in the vast ironworks of time and circumstance, there was one chain forged in the moment of that small conclusion, riveted to the foundations of heaven and earth, and gifted with invincible force to hold and drag. That the ring was the 'clue' which was to fasten the crime of the murder upon the murderer seems incontrovertible, and that Jasper 'devoted' himself to the murderer's destruction is also certain, because the reader is definitely made acquainted with this fact by the production to Crisparkle of Jasper's diary, in which he had ostensibly been manufacturing evidence for his own exculpation. It is only when the interdependence of all these facts is realized that their value is fully appreciated, and in this connection nothing can be more to the point than Sir W. R. Nicoll's pronouncement: 'You may be able at an early stage to introduce facts which contain the ultimate solution of your problem, and yet appear important enough to be stated for their own sake; the solution of the problem, or rather the materials of the solution, should be given, and yet the reader should be unable to detect the full significance of the preliminary statement till the complete clearing arrives.'

Mr. Carden confidently contends that Datchery was Tartar in disguise, and that, whereas Rosa fled to London on Monday, and on Tuesday Tartar promised to communicate daily with Neville, yet on Wednesday he was in Cloisterham acting the part of an amateur detective. To arrive at this result he is compelled not only to ignore the fact that Tartar was a 'brown' man, whereas Datchery had black eyebrows, but also to rule out entirely the natural and simple reading of Datchery's conversation with Sapsea: 'Retired from the Army, Sir?' suggested Sapsea. 'His Honor the Mayor does me too much credit,' returned Mr. Datchery. 'Navy, sir?' suggested Mr. Sapsea. 'Again,' repeated Mr. Datchery, 'His Honor the Mayor does me too much credit!' Why Datchery, if he were Tartar, should deny his connection with the navy, and admit that he was a diplomat, is anything but clear, and it is incomprehensible that Dickens should have gone out of his way to put an unnecessary lie into Tartar's mouth, when it would have been quite simple to have made Sapsea refer to other professions, such as medicine, the law, or engineering.

Then, again, in order to explain how it was that Tartar, after having promised Rosa and Helena that he would visit Neville daily, suddenly disappears from London, and entirely fails to perform his undertaking, Mr. Carden has to introduce a purely imaginary conversation between Grewgious and Tartar late on Tuesday night, in consequence of which Tartar is found at Cloisterham on Wednesday with wig, blue surtout, buff waistcoat, gray trousers, and hat with his new name inside, as well as specially printed cards. If we are to accept this, he must evidently have- lived at a period when the hours and days were much longer than they are now. It is almost universally admitted that Dickens worked out the plot of this book with the greatest care and skill, and it is only necessary to refer to the Epilogue of Our Mutual Friend to see how he stood with his critics in the matter of his plots. If it be conceded that Edwin Drood was meant to confound his detractors, how comes it that there are so many unnecessary inconsistencies to be explained away if we accept Mr. Carden's hypothesis?

It would be ungracious to pursue these criticisms further, not only because they represent a purely personal point of view, but also because so much that Mr. Carden has given us is of really solid value. His book is probably the most important contribution to the discussion which has appeared for some years, and has undoubtedly the right to a permanent place in the library of every Droodist, while all lovers of Dickens will find much to interest them between its covers.

The volume contains seven illustrations, including a sketch map of the Cathedral precincts based upon the ordnance survey, and two reproductions of photographs of the same district taken from the air at altitudes of eight hundred and five hundred feet. Mr. B. W. Matz contributes an introduction.