New-York tribune., 1903-03-15
FICTION.
L NOVEL AND SOME SHORT STORIES,

FHE TURQUOISE CUP AND THE DfSt:RT.
By Arthur CoSSlett Smith. Illustrated Lllo'
PIP. 2Os Charles Scribners Sons.
sx TREES Short st9ries 5 i BY Mary VI m %'ans HE'S
per & Brothers.
"In Piccadilly' is prodigiously quaint book.
The first chapter is entitled The Sorcery OF
London but the author is too modest, II IS "'S
sorcery to which we owe the amazing sensa-
tions of these pages. This is true OF LONDON
he says. that her summer is Oriental potn IN
its atmosphere and in the slumbering and purst-
ing OF human passion" and he proceeds 10 give
us proofs especially to the burstlngs lie
loses no time. Though there is a blind beggar
on his first page, there are two pinks or fashlon
and of passion on his third. Lord and Lady
ington, who as they 60 driving down 10
the park, are followed by one Debrisay in his
dogcart with his proud groom sitting beside
him" The Ossingtons are a pretty pair But
they are nothing to Debrsay. He. having been
Tilted by the lady. nevertheless continues 10
love her. and from the moment or her marriage
to his rival he constitutes himself her shadow
"A mass of withered wreaths, withered ribbons.
withered roses mass of blazing jewels that
never know any whitening and a disastrous
mass Of love letters, which wither sooner than
anything else in this world all lying at
the bottom Of q leather kit-bag in DeprlSay
room in the Hotel de Luxe" Oh. the misery
of it, The rejected one when he is not follow
ing the Ossingtons. spends his time dipping his
naughty nose into the bag. How does good
Master Swift know this? Because the lovers
valet, I'D. p. Slocock. said to Osslngtons Vale1
Laroche that Debrisay was going mad on q
portmanteau," and this author is great on
Wallets. They play, indeed. no inconspicuous part
in this delightful book. There is J. c. DalDlac
the - c." is adorabe-the valet OF Ninlan
and the old Laird Of Bargarran He has one
iIyd1U ort
in most of the others. Ninian. most engaging
young idiot, makes his father very unhappy.
What more natural than that J. C. Dalbiac
should seek to take the place of the heir in the
old mans heart? In the frs. place, BarSarran,
the incarnation OF Scotch pride, is just the man,
of course, to take his valet to his bosom. and
J. c. is just the man to ensconce himself IN
that heart without the aid of confederates or
traps Benjamin Swift makes this sufficiently
plain, for We insist, he is great Wallets. OBJ
serve the penetration into the secret emotions
of the tribe shown in this passage:
J. c. DaIbiac was a meaial with aspirations
It was matter of irritation and surprise to him
that he Was a menial at all. And the fact that
he was frequently ordered to pull off NlnlanS
riding boots and breeches. brush old Biirgarran's
clothes, whistle for cabs, stand at the door OF
broughamS and run for small change. made MN
hate the name of Barsarran He belonged TO
that dangerous class who reflect upon the inc
qualities Of rank and begin to compare their
own servile state with the lordly state Of their
masters. To be the minister OF luxury without
possessing the right of sharing it, to be the
source of other pe0De'S ease and yet to be
only the spectator of 1t, is an evaporation to q
certain class of mind in whom the consciousness
of social inferiority rankleS and fernents.
We shudder! Who is safe7 All around
see J. c. Dalbiacs, ranking and fermenting.
benjamin Swift some other people, to be
sure. There is Lady Ossington. a beautiful
fribble, trailing her Partisan skirts along hotel
passages There is Debrisay, a truly colossal
hero listening at his door the skirts go trail
ing past, and his heart beats with the frenzy
of an hysterical automobile. There is poor Os
sngton, biting his nails with rage over his
matrimonial infecity. But ]. c. Dalbiac Is the
man for money. His only real rival in this
book is Sliepner. the proprietor OF the Hotel de
Luxe, into whose soul the author has plunged,
hotel the best barely good enough. "IIe
spent hours studying and restudying his wine
list" He was master OF the art of discrimina-
ton, knowing in instant the people to admit
beneath his roof and the to send with
consummate diplomacy. disappointed from his
doors. "Porters, pa ges chambermaids. were all
chosen from the best Of their Glass; Obviously
benjamin Swift knows good MOTEL when he
sees it. But come back to his Wallets, where
he is supreme, and. above all. to ]. c. Dalbiac.
That gifted hero has no difficulty at all in
complishing his ends. when once his mind has