Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-11-25
THE GREEN MIRROR"

Katherine Trenchard's very earliest
sense of morality" we read, had been
that there were God. the Trenchards
and the devil-that the devil wished
very much to win the Trenchards over
to his side, but that God assured the
Trenchards that if they only behaved
well He would not let them go-and.
for this, Troy had burnt, Carthage
been RACED TO the ground, proud kings
driven from their thrones and humbled
to the dust, plague. pestilence and ia
mine had wrought their worst"
This passage Is from the beginning
of chapter Ill. in Hugh Walpole's new
book, THE Green Mirror" and 1t Is
quoted here to give an immediate idea
of the tremendousness of the family
with which we and Mr. Walpole have
to deal. Trenchards run like spiders
webs up and down Glebeshire. In Pol
chester there are Trenchards of the
church, the army and other things. At
Rasselas, at Clinton st. Mary and Pol
wint are Trenchards, and some Of
them are poor, but all are important
to God" On our minds 1t is necessary
to hold only the cluster at No. Run
die Square, London, or in summer at
Garth. In this group are grandfather.
Aunt Sarah. Aunt Aggie, Aunt Betty.
father and mother, Katherine, Milli-
cent and Henry.
| OF the Rumble Square Trenchards,
Katherine is the most significant to
,tD lA o., a..
upon her. 1t is with her that Philip
Mark falls promptly in love when. ar
irving in London from Russia, he
makes the Rumble Square house in a
fog. He has left Russian past In
Moscow. with the dancing girl Anna
in 1t. He stakes his hope of an Eng
lish future upon Katherine Trenchard
and finds most of the family against
him.
AS his struggle develops, however.
Mark sees that his real peril Is not
in his rejection by grandfather and
Aunt Aggie. 1t is in the strategy of
| Mother Trenchard, she who was a
Faunder. to bring about his undoing
by subjection-to bend and break him
through his love until he shall be no
more than another Trenchard. But an
humble one at that.
| 1t is a pretty conflict as Mr.. Wal
| pole describes it. this of Katherine's
lover and Katherine's mother. What
part the girl herself plays toward the
contenders, finally, we may not be-
comingly disclose. She knows about
Anna She Is quite aware of dis
couraging moments when Philip can
hear plainly the Russian girl calling
him back. away from 1t all. But the
choice between a lover and a mother
who will not forgive-it Is something
one does not make so long as there
is a chance that one may choose both
with happiness all around.
Portraying this struggle for lover
Mr.. Walpole does not fail to give the
family its due. He reflects the Tren-
chards in his pages as faithfully as
they are reflected In the queer. old
mirror which, in the green drawing
room in Rumble Square, affords the
title to his book. The period IL 1902
os. The life portrayed, that Of the
family deeming itself Interchangeable. II
now changed enough. In the Trench
ard household. young hearts and the
intrusion of other lives have changed
it, In England time and war have
made their transformations. "Th<
i Green Mirror Ii q presentation won
i derfuliy true to q family type that
used to be--a fine companion novel te
Mr.. walpole's The Duchess pi