New-York tribune., 1920-10-31

enthusiastic to be entirely absorbing
II lbafcz attempted to describe o
penny-ante, shirt-sleeve poker party
he probably would be extre mely dull
But turn him loose on q duchess max.
Ing 100000 francs at the gaming
tables and he can produce = master.
piece. Extravagant emotions form the
basis Of his art
His present novel paints sife-
sized picture Of Monte Carlo during
war times, with all tks driftwood of
the nations gathered there, extreme
types. When he is dono with it one
feels we'll enough acquainted with the
crowds and the Casino to walk straight
to tho trente ct quarantc able without
asking questions Of anybody.
In among the driftwood, tho central
characters Of this story At into ap-
propriate grooves. There Is the
Prince Lubimoff, exiled from Russia, a
satiated libertine, whose main source
Of income has stopped with tho ad-
vent of the Bolshevists. Before the
war he cruised about the world in a
palatial yacht studying "the geography
of love" He comes back to Monaco
to economize and exclude women from
his life.
A Common Bond Of Misfortune
Herr he msets again the Duchess do
Delille. q notoriously amorous crea-
ture. whom he had hated in his youth.
Hsr wealth disappeared when tho
rebels In Mexico seized the silver
mines. Their common misfortune
ferns . bond that passes through tho
various stages from com1deship to
passionate love. Each struggles to
keep clear Of tho entanElement, which
eventually leads to tragedy.
The war background increases rapid
~ as the story develops, until toward
the close 1t blots out all else. This
Is rather a surprising twist to q tale
that for some three hundred pages
promises to make tho war no more
Most of the humor comes from thu
antics and ecccntricities Of the gam
blers, the group who believe that
money was made for gambling, ans
what's left for eating" There is the
man who is known in the Casino az
the number five gentleman" He never
plays any other number. Anything he
gets hold of he puts on five. and loses
1T. Then there is the professor who
fgures out system where he can
wager five franc piece and b,
doubling fifty times in succession make
flve thousand billion. For fifty min
utes' work that wasn't bad"
Monte Carlo and the Armistice
Don Marcos describes Monte Carlo on
the night the armistice was signed:
Alas the gamblers! What a NAL
ady gambling is, your h;shness! Or
reaching the square they took OF thei,
hats to the flags, and almost went az
they sang verse of the Marseillaise.
Long live France! Long live the
A!lies' And Immediately they entered
the Casino to bet their money on the
same number as the celebrated date or
on other combinations suggested bv
peace"
In the msin, Irving Browns transla-
ton from the Spanish is ADEQUATE
though at times he has been overfaith-
full to the original copy. Describing
the heroine. he permits this meta
phor:
ITO Michael she looked like a Cali
fornia orange, golden, cleaning, watt
ing strong sweet fragrance.
In far Off Spain this NAV have
served as satisfactory description of
heroine. Here in the native land of
the orange, golden and otherwise. we
can only think of double-page dis
play advertising layout in three COL
ors. Which hardly seems fair to q
heroine
N