Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-29
CASTLES WRITE OF
THE RESTORATION
A Novel About a Missing Heir,
Mistaken Identity and
Love

II is a FAR cry from the war-swept France
of today to those pastoral scenes In the
same romantic land to which Agnes and
Egerton Castle invite attention III their
latest novel The period Is the autumn days
OF 1915 following the final eclipse of the
first Napoleon, when under the Restoration
the people were seeking to forget the blood
shed that marked the pathway of the cOu-
queror Of continent and the tragic and
epoch-making sequence of the Revolution.
"Wolf-lure" Is the enigmatic garment in
which Mr. and Mrs Castle have wrapped
their new romance. II owes its piquant not
to say bizarre title to the fact that the
heroine, Adrenne de Ruffelcu. Is the niece
OF one OF the old nobesse whose ancestors
for generations had held the post of wolf
master by royal patent.
At the outset Of the story this repre-
sentative Of the "anCien regime" is seen
81 retirement the dignity having been con-
terred upon rival and inferior family
during the asCendancy of the "Usurper."
The aristoCratic Count de Ruffeleu has not
recognized this change, however, and before
the reader has gone very far into the story
ne Is convinced that the old gentleman Is
=. bit Cracked" over the disappearance of
his son and heir in infancy; the child hav-
ing been spirited away by his mother. who
'ut of pure perversty aud maliguaucy de-
serted her spouse a few years after mar
&c. His joy at the return Of the heir. as
ne SuppOSeS, Is turned to poignant grief
when the young stranger who visits the old
count at his feudal estate makes known
that he Is an Englishman on an archeo-
logical tour through that part of France.
After that disillusonment Count Ruffeleu
doesn't cut much of figure in the story,
except wher the real heir. i'm the person Of
a young daredevil named Montbars ttIrnq
up, only to have his noble sire reject him
totally as an impostor and villain, and
eventually to return to his halluCination
that the English stranger is actually his
long-lost son, in which fancy he is per-
mitted to die happy
Family name. great treasure, treachery
and romance are mingled in the story,
which is filled with vivid scenes, including
terrific encounter with a wicked old wolf,
wherein the life of Montbars Is saved by
the intrepid archeologist, who, by the way,
is the narrator Of the story in the first per-
SON This is all the more heroic and
chivalrous in the latter beCHuse he is hope
lessly in love with Count Ruffeleu's niece,
who in turn is devoted to the fascinating
Montbars, not knowing he in reality is the
missing heir. II is explained by the mar
rator of the personally hapess romance
that he is able to tell his tale by looking
at the far-off days of his youth Through
the big end Of a spyglass"-that is, he
spins his yarn in the mellow old age of
bachelor and can gaze backward without
bitterness, if not without pain, for what
might have been"
The novel is marked by the graceful
literary style that is characteristic of the
authors, and the period which serves as the
background has decided interest and charm.
b N toco AEoE Rnd E5ertSn C%se Ynr
II. Appleton & Co. Sl.jO.