The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-09

but no stranger than those Of the police
OF Monaco, IL We are to believe u.
Phillips Oppcnheim TN MIR. GreX OF
Monte Carlo tLit,c. Brown and Com
pany). Highway ruhberr and assassi-
nation are triflcs which the police wink
al IL tho diplomats contrivc them. but
both are easily folcd when an Ameri-
can youth OF great wealth takes "A hand
in the game. The easy confidence with
which the author discusses European
AFFAIRS OF state il only exceeded by the
calm assurance that youth displays In
conducting his love affair II daZzles a
young Grand Duchess to such a d, Crce
that she permits all tho conventions
that hedge her IN to be stepped over
and is stupetied into doing just what
she is tod To do whenever he lectures
to her. Tho hero of the tale. around
whom all tho plots rcvolvc. is an ON
ni5ccut British diplomat with amazing
detcciiv" talents and genius for irri-
tlduS his frivolous wife; wc have no
objection to his getting the better Of
thu rdscaly Jewish tinanCiers but We
synpatliZe with tho unfortunate lady
VINO is always sacrificed 10 his patriot
ism and his desire for mystery. TNe
adventures follow on each other rapidly
enough 10 keep tho reader excited,
and after reading couple of the polit-
ical discuurses he will learn to recog-
nae them and skip them, as he may
prefer to do.
Marriage, from the mans point OF
Wow, is the theme of Henry BordcauX's
excellent sermon, The Awakening"
tE. i. Dutton and Company, which
Ruth Helen Davis has translated. A
young wife Brings suit for separation
from III nd -IN
compromising letter. made a scene.
during which her husband has refused
to justify himself. aud insists that the
name of her rival shall appear in the
case. Her husbands lawyer friend tries
10 dissuade her in vain and suggests
mat she may have been at fault too
The husband decides to fight the case
ana sends him the diary he has kept
during his married lifc The lawyer
passes IL on to the wife. She reads how
her husband who Is a historian. tried
10 interest her in his work and his
tastes. when she paid no attention to
him: how she would have nothing to
do with his mother. whom he loved
how he wasted time IN the society
amusements that she sought how she
neglected tho education of her children:
how lonely he was. Then came the /
end appreciated him, and an intimacy ,
and inspiration that grew into love.
II was only tho scene with his wife that
had made him overstcp the bounds. |
The self satisfied wife, who had been |
growing too stout takes this to heart: |
she begins to think. opens her eyes and !
secs what other wives put up with: |
she undertakes to teach her children, |
she tries to learn tho things that her |
husband cared for. she makes up with |
her mpther-i law whose religious |
views arc strongly opposed to divorce. As ,
result she withdraws her suit and !
lives "A retired life with her children /.
Her sorrow aud her thinking make her /
thinner and improve her looks. A. |
ter while the husband is attracted |
20 her again: the other woman with
draws from him because she knows !
she has lost his love; it takes him a |
tediously long time to recover his bal |
ance, but the couple finally make up and !
the author has proved his point. The |
husband is a prig. scholastic ideal, |
with whom it is hard to feel much sym
PATTY; the wife is rather wooden. she |
does not have "A fair chance because |
she must he taught her lesson. We |
think better OF the other woman and |
or the lawyer friend who sets matters |
right. The story Is laid in Grenoble |
and its enNlrons, which are described
carefully but in "A rather !abored man
ner. II Is conscientious and we'll done
piece OF work, giving an interesting in
sight into one phas, Of modern French
life, but IL cannot be compared with the
more frivolous but more delightful and
more easily flowing fiction Of the Second
Empire Tho translator too IL con-
tleties of the language or Csc has not
round the English equivalents for them.
Two more volumes Of short stories by
Barry Pain arc published by the Fred
erick \. Stokes Company. "One Kind
and Another" and "Stories in GRAY" the
harvest Of several years from magazines
and periodicals. They are all very
pleasant reading, for Mr.. Pain writes
good English without effort, his touches
OF mild humor are agreeable and the
h.tS Of romantlcism and of pathos are
not excessive. In tho longer stories he
has better chance to show what he
can do they give hopes of more orig
inality than the author usually shows
and often show a deliCacy of thought
that surprises Some OF the very short
ones are striking and effective. The
two collections are far above the aver
ago If short stories; the suthor's YER
satllity IL 70 great that they can be
read through without leaving any i'm
PRECISION Of ssmeness. That is some
what ominous gIft in literature: Mr..
Fam may he sacrificing greater posi-
hilitics 10 It.
II IL u fan"liul tale Of romantic love
that Percy j. Brehner tells very en-
joyably IN "The Turbulent Duchess"
Little, Brown and Company, u tale
that has been often told before, but
that il can do no harm - toll again.
II happens in one OF the make believe
lands "f the past instead Of the present,
and 1t might have been more artistic
II the author had chosen the renaissance
or the earlier Middle Ages for his period
instead at tho less puetcal periv x days
and If he had left ont the great tlector
of Brandcnburg and his politics. His
hero is highly accomplished, whether in
his part OF court jcstor'or in his fighting
spells; his heroine Is properly naughty
but has fewer chances 10 shine: there
are plenty Of exciting adv enturcs, re.
markablc escapes, complicated intrlgues