The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-30
NEW BOOKS.
In Decadent Company,

U~nfragrant memories are stirred In q
new story by the author OF that famous
work Pigs In Clover" In The sphlnx's
lawyer" by Frank Dandy Frederick A.
| Stokes Company, the reader will find him
self called upon to consider again the case
Of Oscar Wilde. When that nm raj poet
was put in prison was IL wrong and wicked
to treat him there in the manner In which
prisoners are usually treated2 The opinion
Of the novelist is that II was exceedingly
wrong and wicked. Frank Danby's'
story will be found to contain some very
fervent treatment Of the matter.
Wilde Is called Heseltine here. He has
been provided with an mi ginary widow
for the purposes Of the tale. Sybil Algernon
Heseltine Is the Sphinx Of the title. She
is a paralyzed lady who holds a sort OF oon-
tinuous salon for the honor perpetu-
alton OF the Wilde "cult.' Her lawyer was
the brilliant Errington Weloh-Rennard,
who knew several OF the Romano Ian
guages and drew upon them freely in writ
ing notes to the ladies'. He was a disciple
Of Wilde intellectually, but his numerous
immoralities differed from those OF the
poet in being strictly conventional.
The brilliancy and speed OF Kennard as q
love maker are one Of the first evidences that
will surprise the reader Of the story. The
opening chapter relates the tumultuous
Incidents of his second meeting with Berenice
Darcy, an unsophisticated young widow
with 'exquistely transparent skin, bright
eyes and red, soft lips" He had been called
to see her regarding a matter OF the law;
she was barely acquainted with him, but
1t will be found that his first words to her,
as soon as they we're alone, were: You
dear little woman, you dear unconventional,
little woman, now sweet Of you 1t was to
send for me-" His client was embarrassed,
but the Sphinx's lawyer did not mind.
What a wonderful complexion you have
he said. He had seated himself by her on
the sofa. 'He had flung a careless arm
along its back. His broad shoulders and
big limbs made her feel shy Presently
he took her hand. She did not exactly
approve Of this. yet the hand that held hers
was human, pleasant to the touch" He
said to her: Look at me-; don you like
me?" The novelist says that he was very
good looking; Berenioe did like him. What
little hands you have, five and three
quarters, I suppose, and the palms 80 pink
She ciroumspeotly tried to draw the en-
dangered little hand away. Sweet little
womanl' he exclaimed, and proceeded to
furnish a climax for this surprising business.
His movement was unexpected. Before
she had time to realize that his face was 30
near to hers his arms were around her and
his lips had sought hers; he was kissing her
as she had never before been kissed"
Such was the Sphinx's lawyer. He be-
came Berenice's lawyer. We mean they
were married. The story says that @as a
wooer of women Welch-Kennard had been
accounted great" 1t seems to US that the
opinion was justified. Let us turn for a
moment to the Sphinx and her salon. 1t
may be learned at page 81 that this para
lyzed lady wi a hedonist, with level
brows and a dead white skin, who wore
Egyptian designs on her Greek tea gowns
Greek and Egyptian, hedonism and paraly-
sis--a queer mixing up Of things. She
liked her drawing room to be q palace Of
truth; all the men and the few women who
came there she encouraged to talk Of them
selves, Of each other, with an undraped,
indeoorous candor." Here they had an
orgie once a year celebrating the demise Of
Oscar Wilde. Consider the lawyer on his
way to the salon on one occasion (page
1os). Consider the subject and the kind
Of the lawyers thoughts. He was thinking
Of the immoral poet His mind was full Of
that maniacal genius, who had not fed
from a burning city, but had pulled it down
upon himself, and stayed gazing. with
the wonder Of a startled, unbeieving child.
when it crushed about his ears. Who
could respect mans Justice, judgment,
mercy, when one marked what followed?
How his friends ran after him, and his
enemies booted, and the herd flung mud
and jeered at that colossal fallen figure
The lawyer got a bad reputation through
standing by the poet. There were other
matters that did not help to sweeten that
reputation. But Berenice pulled the lawyer
through. We may mention as an interest,"
ing circumstance that she had $4,000 q
year.