New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-10-10

years N
compiling an exhaustive "Catalo.,,. -.
OF Mr.: Morgan's collection. i'a'S0hi'e
NJ f0oDert hichens has Just puhlisb.s j.. ,.,,
novel The Call OF the BLOOD. @I5e- . NO
Bros). Coming after The Card., :. -.
spels anticlimax- The earlier novel s,s-t..
WIN sTlAihs motive which was dava,o,.a
~ @"ie sincerity and skill Odd as the
~ "A1ioh was It nevertheless carried
- 1iu from beginning to end OF the
drama OF character enacted in the dsssr+ ,rto.a
charm the author so br,u,aD+,,, s-,,
were deeply interested in thu hero ana t.,o,,.
anu OeieVeo In their experiences In ..--h cou
"a '1ie bIood everything rings hoIlo7v nh
heroine is woman OF brains with No h.,,+,
Unless II IS TO be found IN a pair Of rnusueI ~.
she faIls In love with a good IooL,,, -
Ehslishnan having Sicilian blood in his veins
al 'ii4s mas occurred when the story opens. and
VIC are introduced TO the third figure with which
NC are 10 DEAL French novelist who is So
- inc heroihes friend that he hastens from
@fls 10 London to see her when her approach
ing marriage is announced The tbraa 5,,a 90
steiner mat night at a restaurant When q Is
TIME ior her 10 go home Hermione Lester does
o' choose 20 be accompanied by the man she
ooies' eho by whom she is adored but goes off
Al cap with her novelist to talk her happiness
over The false note thus struck is maintained
throughout the book
ei'hlohe and Maurice go to Sicily for their
-o"eSIiloon' despite the fact that tn. novelist
aforementioned has owlishly warned IN. lady
'hat what is in the blood is apt TO come incon-
Nenhehtiy to the surface. OF course dire things
occur Maurice has scarcely arrival IN etciI-
De1ore he is dancing the taranteIIa Ike a native.
ne picks up the Sicilian dialect as thousb nv
magic and. indeed. does everything to prepare
20 -0F the catastrophe that we have foreseen
rom before the marriage. The oracular novel
ist Tails I'll IN a strange land and Hernione
win an alacrity that should be a lesson to all
or1oes chertshing their old bachelor friends flies
20 nurse him. leaving her Anglo-SiciIian behind
mat gentleman is promptly unfaithfui 10 her
ana tragic woe ensues. One can imagine a situ-
Auon IKE this made effective and even thrilling
out in Mr. Hichens's hands II seems the most
Iacutous thing in the world Not one OF hts
characters is plausibly realized. We seem to be
."aechIhg the movements Of a group OF puppets
Delns twitched this way and that in order TO
p4OFe case The authors purpose shows
through the texture Of his book Ike the beams
IN scattold. He sets out TO show that Maurice
Deiareys Sicilian blood Will destroy his wife's
happiness and he works out the problem with
a positively naive doggedness We admit that
ne has proved his case but we do not admit
for moment that he has done so by showing
character IN action. Incidentally, he lays on
local color" with troweL Having done well
IN the portrayal OF the desert, he has turned
with aplomb 70 the portrayal OF the Sicillan
and its characteristic figures. He has
got up his facts with exemplary Industry. but
the Rrtihciality at the core Of this book com
munlcates itself TO every page. Whether he is
dealing with the emotions of his impossible trio
or is painting their surroundings. he bores us
very nearly TO extinction
II is q comfort 10 turn from the strained
Issues and mawkish emotionaIism OF The Call
OF the Blood" 10 q piece OF simple wholesome /
sentiment We find 1t IN this roern, contributed
10 a recent number OF The Spectator by Mr.. F.
r T. Law