Decent story, though the language and style are distinctly of an age. Such style can be slow and heavy at times, but often poetic and spectacular.

The story set me up for a particular ending. A storyline I saw so clearly that I was often peeved at the main character for being slow on the uptake. When the conclusion finally came...it was a complete smack in the face. I was stunned that this book had given me an ending so far from what I expected. I didn't feel like I missed anything, but rather that the story had failed to deliver what it promised.

A quick visit to Wikipedia informed me that there had originally (1904 publishing) been a different ending, which had been rewritten in 1912. It sounds like the original ending was what I was expecting.

I'm going to hunt up the original ending now.