New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-11

HATCHWAYS
HATCHwAYs BY Ethel sidgrsick limo pp. <sl
Boston Small. MAYNARD 60.
First Of all, there is NJ Gabriel du
Frettay. French, young. well-born. and
an aviator. He has come 10 England
for a much-needed rest-all this was
before the war-and he expresses the
desire TO meet duke and a duchess,
Bsconian and a bishop, an under
graduate. an Orsngemsn, a worshipper
Of Charles the Martyr, and a profes-
sional prizehghter. AS he is ex-
portunity of fulfilling all these desires.
His meetings and growing intimacy
with some Of them form the framework
of this story. The prizehghter does
not matter; neither does the young
lady from Cork who poses as daring
Mexican eouestrienne in a circus. Her,
like the pugilist, he meets only behind
the scenes, so TO speak, when not under
the eye of the duchess, the bishop or
Mrs. Redgate, who, however, would not
matter. since she is very tolerant ana
the mother confessor of all the young
men of her circle.
Now, NJ. du Frettay prides himself
upon his tact and understanding. He
also believes that he begins to under
stand the English character They
talk so frankly about themselves and
their affairs, their most intimate con-
Germs. II is astounding And then,
when the Frenchman thinks that he
knows all about ii, he discovers, on re-
Fiction, that he lacks the clew to it all.
These English people take him all
around the walls behind which they
live; they point out every stone OF 1t
and every weak part, but the key 70
the gate they keep in their pockets. IL
is bewildering more so because NJ.
du Frettay never discovers that the
young duke is an Irish duke living on
one of his English estates. And the
dukes brother is for that same hidden
reason more bewildering still. II is TO
the Frenchman's credit-a triumph OF
his breeding that he plumbers so
rarely among all this frankness, all
these condolences which hide all sor's
of man traps Of reticence, all KINDS OF
sudden warnings against trespass;
Ii is a subject worthy Of Miss S!dS-
wick's subtle brain and pen. She
makes the most of il in the develop
ment of her story through her char
acters. from the supremely wise Mrs.
Redgate to the laundering duchess,
who blunders all the way from the
management Of the marriage she has
planned for the duke and the un-
fortunate love Of his brother, TO the
arrangement of her dinner table, at
which everybody is always paired
wrong, with his right partner three or
four seats away. II is the unsparlng
realism of the story which prevents II
from ever reaching a focus Tor long
even as in real life no single, no two
people can monobolize for long the
attention OF their circle, each member
of which is in turn preoccupled WIN
his own interests first and most OF all
Occasionally Miss Sidgwick's subtle
~ carries her little too far, but tna'
is the danger Of her highly sophlsti-
Gated manner One wonders, by inc
wav. if she could have achieved hGr
success without the aid Of Mrs. Red
gate, the unfailing refuge Of du FRET
tav and all the others. This lazy
rlavs the part Of chorus, though a
reticent one. explaining only little
AZ a time. But she is so delightful,
and so delightfully."- true in hersell
that one would not care to miss her
for the sake of a literary tour de
force. She is. as one Of the characters
saws, Gust Ernestine," and the mos
loyablv human Of them all.