I thought the speed of the second half of the book quickened immensely from the first half.  I found myself breezing through this frustrating novel.  The devilish almost psychotic preacher Mr. Hackwell kept the pages turning for me.  I was waiting for his grand comeuppance, but there was no act of revenge that was satisfying for me.  Like a villain out of a 1970’s Hanna Barbara cartoon, Mr. Hackwell mischievously worked his scheme on Lola and Mrs. Norval.  I though this was where Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton excelled in her attempt to capture the reader.  His selfishness and greed was deliciously frustrating. One example of this is towards the end of the novel when Mr. Hackwell starts to slip into psychosis upon the realization that he must have Lola.  “His brain throbbed at the thought that Lola would be taken from him–Lola, that radiant, magnificent creature, to keep whom from marrying Julian, he had plotted, lied, and stolen. He had cherished the thrilling, intoxicating, hope, though with savage spells of rage and wild longings of despair, that she would be his in spite of Julian” (Burton, 252).  Mrs. Burton builds this character up perfectly and impeccably constructed his whole character in no more than paragraph.  In previous chapters he used Lola’s father as a tool to trap Lola into becoming his wife.  By having Lola reluctantly state that she is his wife to numerous witnesses, he caged Lola into a deceitful “marriage.”  This plan perfectly describes Mr. Hackwell as a calm, calculating, self-interested psychopath.

No matter what it takes or who he has to step on, Mr. Hackwell will figure out a way to have his Lola; even against her will.  His ability to assume different personalities around different people to get what he desires, was satisfying and discomforting to me.  Satisfying as in his drive to manipulate the equally greedy Mrs. Norval for his gain.  Discomforting in his awkward pursuit of Lola.

However quick the book felt, the last twenty pages of the book felt rushed and seemed to drag.   Mrs. Burton could have ended her novel in chapter LIX.  The conflict between Hackwell and Julian could have been a logical ending point.  The build up and character development for Julian came to a climax in this chapter.  He had been in obvious pain because of his dismissal from the army and because of his discovery of Mr. Hackwell’s plans of marriage.   I felt an epic duel between the two could have ended the novel on a much more satisfying note for the reader and give Mr. Hackwell his much deserved comeuppance.