The San Francisco call., 1905-01-29
Vices Of SOCietu
Are Exposed
by "Retd."
NOVELSM MAKESTIR
Author WinninQ
IdurGlS From
COrelli.
Special Dispatch tAThe Call.

| LONDON, Jan. 2S.-"Rita," as Mrs.
Desmond Humphrey is known in the
literary world, is making things live
ly in the English smart set by her tits
at their shams, their slangs, their gam
blinss and their other vices, which
have gone from bad to worse so rapid
ly of late. She is running Marie Corelli
Il close race in this respect, and has
! the advantage of far more grace of
style and vivacity. There is as much
difference between them as there is
between a bludgeon and rapier.
Although Rita" moves about in
smart society rather more than her
rival, she has kept her personality out
of the public view. as rule, and lit
tie has been written about her. One
SO naturally expects these sharp as
sailants of fashionable society to be
dowdy frumps that l confess j was a
bit surprised on meeting Rita" to find
that she was a bright eyed, attractive
and tastefully dressed little woman
quick witted, well poised and business
like. She told me she was busy at pres
ent Completing a novel. of which She
didn't mind telling me the name, al
/ tiiOuSu II Hdu not Deen ulN ulSeu De-
fore. 1t was to be called THE Queer
Lady Judas and was suggested to
her by character that had appeared
in her recent slashing series OF essays
entitled The Confessions of a Beauty
Doctor" The author was inclined to
think that this novel would make
sensa ton, bolh in England and Amer
lea; for it was going to give a view of
the frivolous, careless, scandal loving
Sir do Of haI nd I1.ai inn
most curtain.
it seems TO have been "Rita's' hatred
of shans and hypocrisies that has led
to her greatest success. Souls. her
best known book hitherto, marked her
departure from the usual sort of ro-
nance into the field of satire. The
Masqleraders" attracted wide atten-
ton, too: and having been published
crly last year, may yet surpass
Souls in success.
Although Rita has travelled all over
the world until she has become a cos
mopolitan, and you would never guess
that she came from an old Scotch line
yet she was born in Inverness shire
She went to Australia when she was
years old shared a tutor with her
brothers and learned to ride and play
cricket and love out-of-doors and dis
like city life. Even then she wrote
poems and short stories in secret and
dreamed of the time when she would
be a novelist. She returned to England
when she was IA, and kept on writing
until on one tremendous and never-to-
be-forgotten day she found herself in
print 1t was Charles Dickens the
younger, who was then the editor of
Household Words and All the Year
Round, established by his distinguished
father, who seems to have discovered
"Rita's" possibilities, however. He OBJ
tanned from her the serial rights of the
first stories by which she became
known to fame.
London never had much fascination
for Mrs. Humphreys, and she has usu-
ally lived IN the country. A few months
ago she moved into charming home
in Parkstone. one of the prettiest towns
in Dorsetshire. She is by no means
what Is supposed to be the typical lit
erary woman, who neglects her per-
sonal appearance, is at the mercy of
moods and always behindhand with her
copy" On the contrary, Rita" is as
prompt, businesslike and systematic as
can be- She keeps her promises as care
fully as if she were business man.
If you want to see her brown eyes
snap get her to talking about shoddy
society and the efforts of the newly
rich to break into it. Some of you
Americans she said, "are not guilt
less. either. 1t has been said that there
were one or two women in London who
enabled themselves to pay their debts
and speculate OH change from the fees
they obtained for introducing rich
Americans into London society 1 can
tell you that instead of one or two,
there are half a dozen, and perhaps
more, and that some of them get any
where from $4,000 TO $50, 900 a season. OF
course. those are exceptional fees, but
the average is higher than you would
suppose. OF course, it is only the vul-
gar who try in this manner to buy
their way in, and equally, of course,
they do not get their moneys worth
But there are just as many newly rich
English families who do the same
thing, so it is not question of ma
tionality."