The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-29
TN THE WILDERNESS. |"

Few authors today have the gift of de- scription, the talent for deIineation of character, and the marvellous power that Robert Kitchens has,. "The Garden of AL lah," with all of it's oriental splendor, and beauty; Bella Donna with its in- slstent Egyptian spell, were stories of marvellous charm, and now comes one of MT Kitchens best, Tn the Wilderness" :" narrative of one of humanity's most vital problems.
 The book absolutely grips you and holds you in the hollow of it's hand from the moment you are introduced to Dion Leith and Rosamund, who is the adored object of his affections.
 Greece and Constantinople, London, be- fore the Boer war, are the scenes which Tn the Wilderness" makes wonderful, and Dion and Rosamund and later Gym thia Clarke, the woman of Stamboul and Constantinople; the woman of the "cy- press trees" and their exotic influence. occupy the limelight.
 Dion meets and loves, in fact, wor- ships Rosamund, the chaste, the serene. the Creek type of woman. She is but woman capable of passion, but only the passion of maternity; she permits Dion s worship and-marries him.
 The picture of the two, Dion. madly and completely in love; Rosamund, walk ing her serene path, honeymooning in Greece among the ancient temples and statutes, the old olive groves and vine yards, with the wonderful sea and noun tains and intense yet cool skies surround ing them-this picture Is a marvellous thing. It captures and holds you like a spell. And for all it's loveliness, it hints at something sharp and dangerous, even as the purple seas hint of shipwreck, L. ,4<s~ <.l. fta gfx. aware of human need and suffering as to be almost terrible.
 From Greece the two return to Lon don, where they make their home and live their life together and where Rosa mund bears a son.
 And at about this point the other wom an enters. She is defending a suit for divorce brought by her husband, and she has just come from Stamboul, loving the city as much as Dion had hated it, in- carnating 1t as Rosamound incarnates Greece She wins her case An uncon- ventional woman, loving art and beauty, lovely things, quick and clever minds; but who shall prove that she Is wicked or sensual, as her husband tried to prove? sad, strange woman, with a still gray ity of demeanor that is nevertheless in stinct with fire.
 Rosamund has her son, and her husband matters little, though she is always sweet and kind to him, full of thought for him, after her son has been given all of her that he requires. Dion senses deep with in himself, deeper than he care sto sound, that hls wife does not give him the same quality of love as he pours out on her. Now and again he tests this inner con- viction. bringing 1t up to view; but when he discovers indications that it Is the truth, he drives it back and refuses to believe
 T,bep cop,aa tha Poar war Nfop enlists Possibly as a sort of desperate touch stone of his wife's love rather than for any more overt reason. The scene in which Rosamund hears of his enlistment Is masterly one As always, she is in the right; she is always deadly right It stiles, this steadfast saneness and bal ance and boise. Nothing shakes her. Gradually you are made to feel more and more hideous and yet beautiful selfish ness of the woman. It is so safe a selfish ness, leaving her on pinnacle, yet never demanding of her the surrender of the least tithe of what she desires of what she admires.
 Very gradually the other woman, the woman from Constantinople, comes more and more into Dion's life It is not he who seeks her, yet it would be too much to say that she sought him. Yet they come to see each other now and then, and as Rosamund refuses to know her, | alD elL III ner klnUeSJ manner, SlI1Cc Sn6 is a woman ''who keeps the door Of her life," and Mrs. Clarke Is emphatically a woman who wanders through the door after any charming and beguiling light, Innocent though these wanderings may be, these meetings between Dion and the woman of Constantinople are usually tete- a-tete
 Then a tragedy so relentless. so frightful. that it tears the very heart and soul out of Rosamund occurs and throws Dion so violently from her that their lives seem hopelessly wrecked. What the tragedy Is you must read for yourself. Suffice 1t to say, Dion and Rosamund seen o more of each other and Rosamund, beautiful, in tensely religious. the thoroughly good woman shows how cruel really good woman can be.
 Then comes Constantinople and Dion and Cynthia Clarke. the woman who has never cared to, be good, but who has only cared to be alive. The denouement of the story Is tragic, intense, appealing, and MT.
 Hichens has never painted a finer pie ture than the climax of his marvel ously interesting and wonderful story, Tn the Wilderness"