The New York herald., 1922-12-03
New Fiction
Continued from Page Nineteen.

medicated fiction, the moralization inter-
feres with the artistry of the product
The thesis seems to be that the aristo-
cratic British politician, or statesman, is
more or less of a criminal, and that il
becomes necessary to wink at his Incl
dental crimes, including murder. for the
good of the community. 1t lacks the
former Chestertonian lightness OF touch
and is even clumsy at times. Its obvious
exaggeration tends also to defeat its aim.
When we are asked to contemplate Prime
Ministers. Chancellors of the Exchequer.
and similarly lofty officials strangling
blackmailers with their own hands or con-
niving at all sorts of crime it strains one
to the point of boredom
Nevertheless the stories are. most of
them. well enough made to be highly inter-
esting, as plots or mystery yarns 1t is
chiefly in their saturnine moralizations
that they go astray. Mr.. Chesterton is
far too skilled a raconteur to fail in hold
ing the readers attention. and there is n
considerable alloy of the familiar Chester
tonian wit, irony. and paradox to give
value to the whole mixture. And. as If
to show how much better he can do, there
is added to the political stories a separate
novelette,. THE Trees of Pride" wherein
Chesterton shows almost at his best, es-
pecially in the quality of eeriness in the
handling of the supernatural, the moral
of this one being that perhaps there is
sometimes more truth in superstitions than
the matter of fact critic can see.
The political mystery stories center upon
the person of Mr.. Horne Fisher, the ''man
who knew too much" who combines the
capacities of a super -sleuth with fund
of political pessimism. Fisher is related to
most of the aristoeracy, owning a large
assortment of cousins in high office. He
has been behind the scenes from his youth.
and knows all the wrongnesses, scandals
and crimes of several decades He gem
orally uses this uncanny knowledge at the
critical moment for the shielding of the
criminal always in the interests of the
State. "All the seamy side of things"
he says, bitterly. "all the secret reasons
and rotten motives and bribery and black
mail they call politics. 1 needn't be so
proud OF having been down all these
sewers that 1 should brag of it." And
he ends by numbering his own uncle. for
the good of the threatened British Empire.
1t makes a queer mess. often curiously
interesting. but on the whole too much
askew to be really impressive.
Another note is added in the tale of
The Hole in the WALL in which a mod
erately inoffensive young nobleman is
murdered apparently by way of poetic
justice. because his ancestors four hun
dred years before. had taken part in the
looting and sequestration Of the ecclesi-
astical properties. The troubles of modern
England appear to be due, in part at
least. to the 'mockery of the dear, quaint
old Middle Ages; that is. a revolt from
the Church. 1T needs very little po1ing
about in the past to find that hole in the
wall. that great breach in the defenses of
English history 1t lies just under the
surface of thin sheet of sham informa-
ton and instruction" So back to Rome.
if We would be saved Mr.. Chesterton is
an engaging phenomenon. but he hardly
appears at his best in this volume.
GEORGE wOOn