New-York tribune., 1922-12-24

ter, from some other room piano--soms'
one called a name in the little court. A sheer
Of stars drew the white light from the snow
to heaven.
"olyA turned very slowly and entered his
black stairway. In his heart he was crying:
How long can I stand thisf This lonela
ness ! must break il. I must tell
some one.'"
This fragment conveys but the slightest
hint Of the beautiful style style mated per T,
feetly 10 natter which makes this short
novel a treasure among stories Of youth and,
college life, veritable classic. splrelike.
reeds lifting from foggy riyers-vAfery redt
suns-woods, Of a darkness alvAys-and "a
long white road rising like a great bloAtedf
warning finger out Of the misty trees" -
these strike the note Of Hugh walpole's a8
mirable beginning.
CLOSING The Prelude" he stood at tho
- commencement Of his career. A reputag
ton FOR singular spiritual penetration. foR
deft contrivanee Of eerie atmosphere. faf,
subtle word painting this much be had sea-
cured Where would his literary INSTINCT
carry him next? Crises In England and
America, greeting "The Prelude with eusf
thusiasm. we're following him with curioU4S
eyes.
And now he sought the further eoverts o3s
the dark woods. And Dostoievsh was his.
guide.
That should have been sensation In tne
English literary world that marriage az
Dostoievsh and Jane Austen. No one but,
this yenturesome young EnglishmAn with tho
Celtic pawkiness OF mind would ever have,
dreamed Of bringing or such a curious mAtAl
ing. But bring II of" he did. Somewhere
in the depths OF the dark and labyrintbina.
forest where Dostoievsh had led him they
came upon a serene and moated grange, sur
rounded by a slumbroUs atmosphere abound
ing in the hum Of bees-and there Jane
Austen appeared, and this pavky, Pan-like'
youth persuaded the bgshy old Russian and
the dcmurely cunning Jane to join hands. 1t
was strange, Il was preposterous-it vas
exactly Ike some brash trick OF that im-
pulsive, muddle-headed Henry Trenehard
whom Walpole makes the hero Of two Of his
novels.
But somehow K worked out And At
the first hating stage Il proved a marked
FuCrfaes
Mirror more delicious than the scene where
the young Russophilc, Philip Marx proposes
right i'm front OF an implncabe female enemy
By passing a copy Of Pride and Prejudice"
across ber bows. the while she is extollins'
IFS merits. with a serbbled proposal 70 his
sweetheart between the pages. Never were
defer Jane Austen kit-kAts than WalPole
sielehed in this gorgon Aunt Aggie' in
George and Mrs. Trenehsrd, in Katherine
and Mile. In Henry be quite Ouirunt
Miss Austen. He gOes deeper than she did.
He hings his line into deeper pools unSeS
darker oyerhanging trreA
AFTER the umbzgeous halls and reAnaf
"A heavy going Of HFortitude," after the
urUdigious canvas Of Russian life painted y
~rbe Dark Forest" and "The Secret City,
came the splendid achievements Of 'ThS
puehess Of wrexeT and ''Tbe Green Mirror
which should be read together, as the two
Russian stories should. 1Fortitude" suffered
from an overelaboration Of scenes and chars
seters which muffled the story.
A comparison between Peter Weseotes
demon father, so much described and so little
demonstrated, and the portentous figure or
she Duchess Of WreIe" illustrates the progs
rsss Walpole had made since 1FoFtitude."
The duchess az first seems 70 say little, even
Al Peters father, so that the reader feels
defrauded Of his rightful glimpse into The
characters mental interiors. But how won
derfully the duchess fnally comes OUT How
urodigious she is in the climax in Roddy