New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-08-27

L
/ A IN yised edition OF strhe Re-
/ Va II turn,' which was first
- y -@ printed over twelve years
ago by Edwin Arnold, and
with which Walter dc la Mare won the
De Poiignac Prize in 1911.
he Return IS novel of rare
beauty The theme is the reappear-
ancc in these modern unromantic days
I of what in the times of the Apostles
was called possession" Arthur Law
ford, while convalescing from infu-
enza, wanders on '.nlifd and golden
September afternoon into church
yard, told, green, and refreshingly
still He rested beside the grave Of
zone Nicholas Sabathier who fell by
his own hand on We Eve of Ste, Michael
and all Angels. And resting there,
the spirit of this old French adven-
Eturer comes back, taking possession of
Lawford. Transforming him physically,
and attempting spiritual mutation, as
well.
Lawford, who before his Sabathier-
azation was mild unimaginative
soul, develops a sudden cunning, a
surprising skillfulness in mendacity, a
bent toward adventure, a tendency to
evil. It is his struggle against this
influence, this effort to overcome his
personality, his fight to retain his own
soul, to battle against the presence
within. and the changes which this
contest effects in his home and in his
heart, which constitute the story in
which Mr.. De la Mare has, with a
very delicate and sure art, woven a
romance of fantasy and, if you care to
seek it out, something of philosophy.
1t is interesting to compare the first
edition with this revision and to note
the growth. of his style. In 1910 he
had q fondness for such phrases as
''kind Of" "as it were He liked the
word quite" altogether too much. Mr..
De la Mare has been experiencing the
JOY that Felix Kennaston knew when
he received those first wide margined
galley proofs" of "The Audit at
Storisende." For in "The Return" one
can find s'the word, vexatously re-
peated within three lines which in
the revised edition is now replaced
by synonym; and the clause which"
now transposed makes "the whole sem
tence gain in force and comeliness."
And in Chapter 10 Mr. Bethany no
longer performs feat of thaumaturgy
thin air after previously telling Law
ford that he had left them home. The
Society for Psychical Research is
given its own proper name, and, sign
of modernity! feather bed of 1910
has become,a comfortable bed in 1922
1t is curious to note, however, that one
trlfiing error of the early edition re-
mains uncorrected. Herbert and Law
ford spend quiet October morning to-
gether and few days later Mr. Beth
any is detained at the rectory because
it is the Feast of ST. Michael and All
Angels. This is riding the Centaur
toward the West with even greater
speed than Jurgens.
Like all Mr.. De la Mares books, "The
Return ends in delightful indefinite
ness. He leaves something to his read
er's imagination. What surmises that
slip Of paper pinned to the carpet a
message: II have been called away
M" awakens in the Memoirs of a
Midget" And SO too in "The Return
The half-fnished letter to Sheila, Law
ford's wife, which he tore into tiny
pieces. The new beginning, "My dear
Sheila," beyond which he does not
progress, and, finally, the sight OF
! Lawford and Mr.. Bethany, slumbering
| the latter with spectacles awry, watch
ing, weary old sentinel on the out
skirts of his friends denuded battle
| field. This, the last scene, indeed, the
| last words of the book, leave one ample
| opportunity for speculation as to
whether Mr.. Bethany managed to patch
up the disagreement between Sheia
and Lawford, or whether Lawford and
Grisel and her eccentric brother livec
| together in the old haunted wooden
house beside "the dark and deep and
| begreened Wilder"