The New York herald., 1922-05-28

acterS are more tnan portraits, tney
are intimate. revelations. Her di-
Sressions are pleasant interiudes
and never intrusions. Yet the net
result Is to leave the reader a little
uncertain as to which of the varied
threads of her story is the dominant
one; in short. out of a multitude of
worth while things that she always
manages to say. which particular
one would best sum up the motif of
the book?
In The Eyes of Love-" for in
stance. the over emphasis of a half
dozen themes-or rather. the under
emphasis of any particular one of
them-makes it surprisingly diff
cult to epitomize effectively what
on its surface is a story told with
rare skill and understanding. Yet
the moment that you seize upon
certain point of departure you real
ize that it is the wrong one: the en-
where else. Mr.. Puclxle, leading
lawyer in the old Southern city of
Millidge. is not the first middle aged
gentleman of settled habits who ever
lost his head and his heart at the
first sight of such a radiant vision
as Betty Marshall when she chanced
to visit his old friends. the Crombies.
But although his foredoomed disap-
pointment is turned into a life long
and worshipful devotion. it is by no
means the dominant note of the
book. even though the author has
given him the opening scene and
the closing speech Neither is this
a Main Street" type of book. even
though a score or more of characters
are drawn in with generous detail
and indulgent irony, who for the
most part serve little purpose in the
story beyond emphasizing the self
centered individuality of Milhdge.
In turning to Windham Cutmore.
masterful blend OF modern aggres-
siveness and old time knighthood.
one feels on surer ground. Cutmore
has a secret war record of limitIess
dramatic possibilities theme. in
short. for a new Charge of the
Light Brigade" Some one had blum
dprad- IN tho x-o,-x- lo,,r ,,-to,. =, -,
eral retreat had been ordered Cut
more was sent out with a detail to
locate a certain point in the Ger
man line. Three days later. with a
turn in the tide of war. ne was
found In pit of horrors" with
shattered bones; moreover. he had
been gassed. The other seven men
had disappeared. Hayden. the Of
ficer who had blundered. denied
sending out the detail: and only his
wounds saved CutmOre from court
martial. He was invalided home.
slowly recuperated. and when Betty
Marshall's loveliness took him by
storm he was outwardly the same
debonair self assured. irrepressible-
Windham Cutmore as of old. One
foresees that when Fate eventually
plays the grim jest of bringing Cut
more and his blundering superior Of
fieer face to face something tragic
will happen And yet even this is
/ not the central story that Mrs. Har-
ris has set out to telI-it is at most
merely a link in it. not the weakest
link. to be sure. but only a link. all
the same.
Perhaps the best way OF sum-
ming up the real essence of The
Eyes of Love" is to let the author
do it herself. through just one quo
tation from Chapter VIII:
Few women are ever related
by marriage to the minds of their
husbands. These minds are for
eign countries where they dis
cover themselves to be aliens.
speaking another smaller language
and practically Incapable of mas
tering the manners and customs of
thar place. This is sometimes the
mans fault. because his mind is
not a fit place for a nice person
like his wife TO dwell, but more
frequently it is the wife's fault.
who is not willing to associate
intimately with the hardships that