The San Francisco call., 1906-08-19

'Bess of the Woods" a more than ordi-
narily attractive book. 1t is that which
gives it distinction and makes it over
pass many stories which lose equality
with ii solely because they are less
beautifully framed. Sometimes it seems
as IL Deeping realized that this art of
making the woods around his 'Bess of
the Woods" a living and beautiful for
est to the readers Imagination was at
once his chief talent and his most self
pleasing toll. and that in order to en-
joy the exercise OF that talent he but
made the story an excuse for these
glowing descriptions OF the English for
est of Pevensel. There are many nov
els in which the painting of the scenery
amidst which the characters move and
have their being is so done as to seem
like mere padding which the reader
may wisely skip in order to hurry to
the essentials of the story. but If you
thus slight these Deeping descriptions
you will lose the books best.
AS il TO enhance our appreciation of
biACsC Gllsil AOl Col SNChCS bhS onAhOi
makes the hero OF his tale, Richard JEFF
fray, a man exceeding gly sensitive to
the entertainments OF woodland beauty.
You learn this trait in the character of
the young English landowner just be-
fore his first meeting with Bess of the
Woods, as if the preparation was de-
signed so you could the more sympa-
thetically understand the deep impress
sion the sight of the fair woodland girl
made upon his imag agination-an impress
sion which was the beginning of the
romance of his life.
The origin of the romance between
these two, the half-wild creatures of
the rough forest rearing and the
young gentleman who was the owner
of the forest wherein she dwelt, was
in the dream vision of him which the
girl saw soon after their first meet
ing in the woods 1t was a dream en-
phasized in the girls memory by its
coming on st. Agnes eve.
Bess had deliberately prepared her
self. by the playful superstitious for
mulas set by folklore for that occasion,
to dream of what her fate in love was
to be- Old Ursula, the dame with whom
Bess lived, had packed the girls head
full of superstitious lore. So to obey all
the rules of the game Bess went to
bed in clean shift and between fresh
sheets, for st. Agnes, lit was said,
loved to find a wench in spotless gear"
She put fresh pulled bays upon her
pillow. a couple OF red apples and a
new shoe. Then. lying straight on
her back, after old Ursula's orders, she
put her right hand beneath her head,
saying. Now the god of love send me
my desire"
Richard Jefray sat in the saddle
and stared about him like man re-
freshed His pale face colored, his
eyes frightened. This forest land,
called Pevensel of old and voted "a
damned rubbish heap by the Baronet
Peter, appealed to the sentimentalist
as wild delicacy snatched from the
material NAV of Mammon. Here were
no cropped hedges and sullen fields, no
sour and unclean villages, no cabbage
gardens, no frowsy and rubbish-ri ridden
farms. Nature had her sway in Peven-
sell Even the wild things were clean,
sleek, and fair of limb, beautiful ac-
cording to the idea upon which each
had been created. The falcon glim-
mering under the clouds; the hare
scampering amid the heather"
Riding through this wildly beautiful
forest, Jeffray comes to where Bess re-
sides-a completely forest creature.
She is a handsome young girl made
gioriously strong and 1.-THE by her ac-
tive life in the sweet open air of the
woods. She is the foster child of a
rough family who have in their ca
reer of smuggling committed some
graver crimes as incidental to it, and
In one Of these lawless adventures they
had killed all of a party they were
robbing except the child. Bess.
In the dream that came that night
she saw Jeffray and had an intimation
of what would be the tragedy of her
life. Later Jeffray is wounded and
brought TO old Ursula's cottage, where
Bcss nurses him, and partly because of
the suggestion of her dream the wood
land beauty loves and kisses the
stricken man almost with the in
stinctive naturalness of some forest an
imal. Thus it befell that Bess of the
Woods and Richard Jeffray stepped for
the first time into that subtle maze of
circumstances whose weavings spell
out the passionate strangeness OF trag-
edy.'
The author then uses the time-hon-
ored expedient of putting his hero
through a conflict or passionate love
against the duty created by civilized
conventions.
tHarper & Bros. New York. $500
aT 4. L 1n