The San Francisco call., 1905-02-26
PhiIlpoGes.
Writes Virile Book

4 hills and age-old granite plains,
The Secret Woman" OF Eden
Phiilpotts Dartakes insensibly
and perhaps inevitably of the charac-
ter OF primitive, unhma ginative peo-
pie and a hard. stubborn soil. Gloom
stalks rampant through the book, but
II is the intense gloom Of great pas
sions and great tragedies in simple,
elemental lives Everywhere is the de-
pressing spectacle Of human ambitions
and hopes and loves thwarted or mis-
directed OF the little group of char
acters that move and talk and act
against their murky stage setting two
are left with the story's close beneath
the church yard mold, victims of vio-
lence; one is released from fifteen
year term in prison and departs for
newer scenes: one is left in. the work
house, and one, The Secret Woman" :"
is left against the lonely background
TO live a life of atonement- And yet
it is a story that is intensely human,
for it deals with problems that are
vital and omniDresent 1t is not a
novel; the author himself in his dedi-
cation frankly calls It a tragedy. AS
such ii attains at times a tremendous
stress in its portrayal of the turmoil
and tribulations that assail the hearts
and souls of a simple country folk who
order their affairs and settle their
problems according TO the dictates of
primary emotions.
The bald theme OF the book is the
flesh and the sins of the flesh. 1t
touches upon questions and problems
that are as innate in the lives of peo-
pie Of the so-called higher order of So
ciety as they are in the lives Of the
simple granite cutters and fiockmasters
Of Devon. Only here they are dis
played in all their nakedness, ac-
knowledged, when faults. without art
or artifce, and the price paid,
without eQuivocation. SO when the
wife of Anthony Redvers discovers
his relations with the secret woman,
he, simple, straightforward, can only
say: Angry you must be, of course,
according TO your lights, but it's like
your pluck TO hide it. Well, alrs up.
No wife could forgive or understand.
What's your wiIl?" And again: I've
got a decent soul in me, Ann, what
ever you may think. 1 never once
went near our old love waIks-nor near
ALE AldtCS 4OA AAAC4 III N44N Dt0 tAAAAC
when now and again you could find
half an hour for a stroll. Never once.
They're Just as holy TO me now as
they were twenty years .agone. I
wish to God-but that's vain now.
only I've been steadfast as the polestar
for all your doubling. The way of a
mans body is nothing if his heart is
right
Because he is Of amorous tempera-
rnent and is mated with a woman who
held the most trivial display of affee-
ton weakness, Anthony Redvers
strays from the plain path Of marital
rectitude. Loving his wife with his
whole heart and soul, still this man
pays his secret court from home.
Finally his defect in duty is discovered
by his wife. Before her accusation he
protests his great love for her still
and then can say no more. He appre-
ciates that she cannot take the same
view of 1t that he does, and so he
silently stands and waits for her word
to him TO go. This scene, the strong
est in the book, is enacted in the old
fashioned living room of the Redver's,
to the fit accompaniment Of the storm
that is beating and roaring without
The soul Of the man and the soul Of
the woman, after the denunciation, are
bare.
Even then, moved by the earnestness
Of his simple, honest defense. stirred
by the old love, she is moved to say
that II he will give UP the woman
saThe Secret Woman''-she will forgive
him. But he, gazing into the fire. hears
nothing OF her words because Of a furi-
ous blast OF the storm rafting the win
dow panes, and she. thinking he has
heard and rejects. finds her generous
love turned to hate. Then he in his
turn makes his appeal to her. but she.
stunned into nunlbness by what she con-
siders his refusal, is incapable of even
hearing his words. So they parted and
through the accident Of neither hearing
the other the deep and terrible trag-
edies Of the book followed.
Into the life Of Jesse Redvers. the
son Of Anthony Redvers. comes love.
too. hopeless love, that is fatally en-
.v-ra nped with the destinies OF those
who are close to him; and TO the
Secret woman comes evil love. or
rather the craving of the animal for the
animal
I
the reading. From the waste Of novels
that are concerned with nothing deeper
than meeting, making love and marry
ing. il stands out clearer and greener
than an oasis. 1t deals with problems
that are deep and fundamental in the
relations of men and women in every
walk Of society. If there is little Of the
lighter side Of life in it, 1t is because
the problems involved, by their very
greatness, usurp the entire canvas. On
the mechanical side. the book may be
2 -triae slow in the getaway" and yet
for the proper appreciation Of the state
of mind with which his wife met the
discovery Of the dereliction Of Anthony
Redyers. il was necessary for the au-
thor to lay in his foreground minutely
and graphically. Thus it happens that
considerable space is devoted, after the
first dramatic instance is injected. with
,ortrayals OF characteristic phases of