The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-26
"Sacha Gregory" Is
But an Old Friend
eeVIICTORY cabbage" merely went
to show how war can overturn


twinkling Of an eye. And now we see the
phenomenon penetrate fiction. Yellouledf
is announced as the work Of Sacha Greg
DRY, who was born into the book world as
Baroness Won Hutton. Personally we don't
mind this, being convinced that peaceful
penetration will not do any harm in this
instance, and anyway internationalism is
down for trial. Besides, the only Teu-
tonic character (Teuttonic, that is, in
morals, though not in race) in the book
comes to bad end and hence justifes his
existence to those who might have been in
elined to carp.
Yellouledf is exclusively a London
story, an English story to its finger tips.
Who is there among US stanch Ameri
cans who does not enjoy shrewd I'M
scrupulous old Duchess or Marchioness,
or a gentleman Of noble blood whose man
ners, acts and inhibitions are perfectly
English and Englishly perfect, and there
fore as different from our ways as sun
light from dark7 Lady Mary Dampierre,
who dominates and eventually solves the
problems caused by her son-in-law, the
Teutonic villain aforementioned, is Of
course the most attractive figure. Ancient
Duchesses or Warehouses; or Ladies are
the only members Of English society who,
according to fiction, can attain to common
sense directness, violate laws and morals,
break through social voodoos and enter
tain an open liking for Americans. Not
that there are any Americans in this
story, but Lady Mary is the kind of auto
cratic old iconoclast who would certainly
encourage them if there were.
Getting back to the main track, Yet
louleaf was the house Of Lady Mary,
where lived also Lily, her widowed daugh-
ter-in-law; the Honorable Charles Thorn,
her nephew and perfect gentleman;
Jacques Aghassi, cruel husband Of Lily
and diabolic pianist; Jimmy, Lily's son
and crux Of all sorrow, together with 9th
ers among whom Bruno the butler, de-
lightful soul, must not be forgotten. 1t
will be gathered without difficulty that
Yellowleaf was a spacious house, but it
was all too small to hold them when
Jacques began his Vaccinations.
We are not going to retail the plot, be-
cause it is very good plot, full Of unex-
pected turns and tense situations, employ
ing powerful emotion and yet seeming to
be an inevitable concentration Of events
arising from the juxtaposition of extraor-
binary personalities polysyllabic jazz
strain we rather hkel
But Of Charles Thorn a word, because,
as was said previously, Americans never
fail to be interested in the honorable
English gentleman. 1t is always exciting
to see such character confronted by sit
uation after situation which from an
American would call for few plain
words or an uppercut and to find each
time that his sense Of propriety or his Pc
culiar code of honor holds him dumb, halt
and blind. The case of English gentlemen
would indeed be hopeless among unscru-
pulous villains were it not for the old lady
aunts perpetually on the scene to look
after them. In fact, we sometimes wonder
whether the war would not have ended
sooner if few elderly female aristocrats
had taken things in hand at the beginning
YELLOWLEAF. BY SAcHA GREGORY.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company.