Nothing could show better his high seriousness than his waiting until the age of thirty-nine before publishing his first novel, unless it be the restraint which led him, after having embarked on the career of novelist to devote four or five years on the average to his studies in fiction.

So his books are ripe, the fruits of a deliberate and rich nature, and not the windfalls of a mere literary trick.

And now the publication of _The Saint_ confirms all his previous work, and entitles him, at a little more than threescore years, to rank among the few literary masters of the time.
III Many elements in _The Saint_ testify to its importance; but these would not make it a work of art.

And after all it is as a work of art that it first appeals to readers, who may care little for its religious purport.
It is a great novel--so great, that, after living with its characters, we cease to regard it as a novel at all.

It keeps our suspense on the stretch through nearly five hundred pages.