The Washington herald., 1910-08-10
X DATLKE.s.s.8
BOOK X REVIEW
THE FRUIT OF DESIRE. y


The modern tendency in fiction TO re-
gard marriage as a beginning rather than
an end is exemplifed in The Fruit OF
Desire. II is said 10 be work Of a we'll
known author who has assumed the pen
name Virginia Demarest. Whoever the
author may be. the tale has a curiously
individual quality. Dealing as II does
with a problem the most delicate. sug-
costing a profound question as 10 love
and marriage, it is pervaded by an ac-
tuality and CHEEKY optimism that make
It thoroughly wholesome The Fruit Of
( Desire is simply a humanity told story
which recognizes a factor In marital hap
piness mat Is commonly ignored. A view
or marriage which Tolstoi has urged
upon purely religious and philosophical
grounds is taken up from the standpoint
Of common sense and common experience.
Jonn kenton is an ex-convict who has
submitted TO imprisonment and disgrace
IN order 10 save his brother. an older man
with wife and children. on his release he
drifts about aimlessly until he comes 10
little village In the Kentucky noun
tains' where he finds employment as
railroad bookkeeper- Here he meets Eaith
srode-a girl OF great beauty and natu-
ally happy disposition. who is as IN
fortunate IN her way as Kenton is IN his
Her father, a violent, unreasonable man.
mas made her life unbearable ever since
her elopement with the son Of his mortal
enemy In a Kentucky feud. Drawn to-
gether by mutual sympathy. Kenton and
Edith form warm friendship in secret.
Then visiting superintendent Of the
railroad discovers Kenton's Identity. At
the same time Edith decides that her
home-life can no longer be endured.
Together they leave the village for New
York. On the train they allow them
selves 70 be taken FOR man and wife. and
In order to escape the girls pursuers It Is
necessary 70 keep up this deception. In
New York. a married couple they have
met on the train accompany them 10
their clearinghouse. where Edith and
kenton take adjoining rooms-stili as
man and wife
Without friends or definite prospects.
they begin discouragIng search for
employment, which the author pictures
with sympathy and truth The hurt pride
Of the man, the instinctiveIy protective
attitude OF the woman. as failure follows
failure, are brought out with a poignant
clearness- Meanwhile the feeling OF
comradeship grows until Il becomes the
most important thing IN the world 10
each OF them. TIC outsiders they seem
ideally married.
Ihen prosperity comes 10 them and
RentOn is urgent FOR an immediate mar
riage. But Edith. though she loves him
with all her heart, has misgivings-mis-
givings arising from her reading. from
her knowledge Of her mothers Hfe-story.
from her frank conversations with
married woman. who has become her
good friend. Stnl seeing Kenton niser-
able, and yielding 10 the instinct that
demands completion, she al last con-
sents. They are married and every
thing seems favorable to their increased
happiness. Kenton has an excellent no
sition; he and Edith are very much IN
love; and they are freed from the false
position in which they have been living.
Yet they ind themselves strangely mis-
cradle. Jealousy. discomfort. and self
reproach creep IN. For the first time
they feel I'll al ease in each others So
ciety
In the end they repent OF their mar
rage and 60 back 10 the old Joyous COM
panionship. This is the unusual climax
Of novel which is love-story from be-
ginning TO end. New York: Harper &
Bros)