The San Francisco call., 1905-03-26

which contain the information states
men are familiar with. and the rest Of
his qualification comes naturally by in
heritance. He was glad to be an Eng
lishman and a member of the English
Government That man should
know himself to be fool. was in his
eyes. as 1t was in Lord Melbourne's,
the first Of necessities. Let him
find the occupations that suited him
and pursue them. On these terms life
was still amply worth the living. and
ginger was still hot in the mouth
He was deeply interested in religion,
but for himself believed nothing. To
find out the more intimate and inter
esting things about him we must OBJ
serve him in his relations with Kitty.
One OF the first things we note in
these relations is that although Ashe
is naturally masterful both by indi-
vidual inclination and by virtue of his
breed, he from the very start resolves
10 attempt no mastery over his wife.
That's a part of the books psychoIog-
icaI study. and the play Of the charac-
teristic and its effect are worth observ-
ing from the first love scenes Of dawn
ing passion to the dark end OF the
tragedy He knows Kitty is willful,
audacious, born of a bad mother. and
by her own confession given TO strong
fancies for men-"overpowerin fan
cies. and I must follow them; he
notes she is but half child and half
woman. and yet he decides that as his
wife she shall be free-that she may
scandaIize half England. but he will
understand her and trust her Even
when after the terrible trouble came
and the Dean soIemnly, IN his char
acter as Christian friend OF the un-
happy girl, asks him If he had done
all that love could. he replies that lit
isn't in me to play the tutor and mas
ter 10 my wife"
But in interesting connection with
this idea he had Of himself. here's
glimpse Of Kitty, and what she thought
OF Ashe s mastery. She was far from
home, close to the moral danger which
a little later caught her Ashe had
written her TO come back TO him. She
threw the letter from her impulsively,
saying He commands me, I won't
be any mans chattel." So much for a
mans ideal Of himself as one who
would never attempt to enslave a
womar
AS to this question OF husbandly
mastery. however. the author SAYS
neither yea nor nav. Not a word of
praise or blame as to Ashes taste or
wisdom in the matter Ashe may have
his ideals, the Dean may consider mas
tery Christian duty in such case, the
willful Kitty may feel her woman's
impulse about il: but the novelist gives
no word direct Nevertheless. her
whole beautiful. sad story is leading
US TO see that the true mastery Ashe
should have had at the critical time
was the mastery Of tenderIy making
his wife aware that he still loved her.
Then the bidding her come home would
have seemed. not a tyrant command
but a mastery in the art of loves be-
seeehing
Mrs. Ward is here using her noble
art TO show US that If a man who had
cultivated the quality of mind and
heart she suggests had married that
bewitching creature, he could have
made Kitty behave and not been the
least bit bossy about it.
That she is a bewitching creature.
and one well worth the exertion of the
finest art of conduct to make her be-
have is wherein lies the fascination of
the book. To read il is to understand
the spell under which Ashe fell when
he found he could hardly take his eyes
from the small sparkling face Of this
half woman. half child, so singular in
her personality, and with the wild
Intelligence in her eyes,
Many fine word pictures does the
author draw Of her in differing dress, in
varied moods. in actions alive with
gayety. or under crushing grief. Here is
just one: Her large black hat en-
phasized the whiteness of her brow. the
brilIiance of her most beautiful eyes
and then all the rest was insubstantial
sprite and airy nothing, TO be crushed
in one hand. And yet what untamed,
indomitaole things breathed from it
self more surely self, more intensely.
obstinately alive than any he had yet
known"
There are two things in the book
~ghieh the writer seems TO have elected
1o do with especial grace and power.
One is the descriptions, fit to paint. of
the living Kitty Bristol and the other
is making word-pictures of the wall
hung paintings Lady Kitty saw with
her esand felt with her soul. The
finest u these is the one which tells
of Tintoret's great masterpiece. the
Last supper" 1t adds something of
interest TO remember that this enthu-
siastic putting before our Imagination
OF the. great painting is done by the
agnostic pen OF the author of Robert
Elsmere"