New-York tribune., 1922-10-08

-.
merton Doraa.
"% he heroine---if one may he al
lowed to designate so Honleri-
cally young lady so little ex-.
traordinary of Mr.. Swimmer
tons new story is called Patricia. That.
TO reader familiar with the less al.
pine reaches of very contemporary
hction, will convey quite Sufficiently the
quality OF this fourth novel after Moe
II she were called Diana, Of course,
1t would be unnecessary TO prsceed
further than her introduction on the
twenty,,fifth page, but If the Patricias
descend on the one hand to Mrs. Mabel
Barnes. Grundy and the less celebrated
OF the Fowler sisters, and no doubt To
even more Aycrnian bibliorraphical
depths, they ascend on the other hand
to Mr.. Stephen Mckenna's "Ninety-six
Hours Leave"-one Of the few literary
lndemnities !. for the late war-and to
that Patricia Brent, Spinster." whose
rise to fortune might have been re-
counted by Mr.. McKenna in his weak
est moment or by Mrs. Berta Ruck
hour. DAe
They may rise even higher, for no
one as yet seems to have written a
wnlmsIcal essay or Doctors disgerta-
tlon on the Patricias Of Fiction; but in
TINS particular year Of the worlds his
tory it is Uncomfortable, that any novel
ist would select Patricia as lady pro-
tagonist OF fiction in the grand man
eleventh novel who enjoys the advsn-
.tage of being publisher himself, ef
having discovered the aging manuscript
OF The Young Visiterg,' Of owning q
red beard and Of lunching opposite Mr..
Hugh Walpo!c every Tuesday.
ME-. Swinnerton, it may be assumed,
knew that Patricia is the name by
which Cinderella is now usually pre-
sented to her still faithful audience;
; he cannot have intended to rival either
.The Brothers Karsmazov" or "The
Awkward Age" On the sound Crocexn
basis Of the authors intention, then,
.'-rhe Three Lovers" is to be judged o.,
it's merits as an amusing love story,
not on it's merits as work Of art--as q
Lehar or at most as q Puccini, not as
Debussy, much less as a Beethoven.
Not in the most Galiic versions 10
/ the first Cinderella said to have had
eyes for any man except Prince Charm
ing; no other man, indeed, is said TO
have had eyes Tor her. We have no
Psychological. no psyche analytical,
llght upon the state OF her maiden
affections: husband, princely hus-
band, was gift to be received with
out reasoning why, as a happy releas.
from separating seeds and ashes, and
from the tyrsnnies Of proud step. SIS
ters. But heroines OF London's smart
bohemia are not SO easily won-even
when they are wretchsdly lodged, when
their bank balances are vanishing, when
| they have Just had two stories re-
| turned, the improvident creatures will
sp1frn an honest mans love. When they
! go to their first studio party, the SUBJ
| stitute for royal balls chcerfully ac-
cepted by. Patrtciss whose ystronym
princes, just as there would be three
| oranges, or three apparently quite ord;-
nary nuts inciosins three Increasingly
magnificent ball gowns; and the third
prince who went out into the world
| at q tender age to seek his fortune
and found it, has all the advantages o.
| that first prince who is likely to dis
appear from the tale as early as the
barytone usually disappears iron, an
| opera.
Harry Greenlees, Monty Rosenberg
and Edgar Mayne all beheld Miss Quiz,
at the sans msment; at the same me
! lair hair, her beautiful and striking
dress, her clear blue eyes. her delicate
nose, her impetuous mouth, the pecul-
lar stiffness Of her attitude. But she
took them, as young ladies OF twenty
two sometimes do, one at time. Harry
had his. innings first; Harry, who had
been given his Rugby blue ten or
eleven years before, had helped Oxford
to beat Cambridge in q memorable
year, who wrote sisngy and vigorous
sporting articles, who took his fun
where he found il. But Harry's bent OF
love was not honorable nor his purpose
marriage; Mr. Arnold Benefits convie-
ton that Mr.. Swinnerton has disturb
ing insight into the hearts and brains
of girls is borne out by Patricia's tenn
porarily broken heart when she real
lied that the man she had been almost
sure she couldn't risk marrying
thought love unlikely to last long
enough to justify a registry Office. Still,
she was not yet sufficiently wounded to
recognize the merits Of Edgar, no mora
than FIVE feet eight and undinstin-
guished i'll appearance.
The second innings belonged to
Monty Rosenberg, who really might
have come first, since it was his studio
party. "A SlighC vanity gave Monty uH-
failing carriage and address; Oxford,
money, talent, all combined to make
him agreeable; like the immortal Mr..
Salteena, he was not quite gentle
man, though cup Of tea in bed would
undoubtedly have laft him calm; he
was a sublisnely and ruthiessly selfish
man, who gave Joy TO others by ac-
cident, pursuing all the while his own
luxurious aims: Monty, in bxief, was
the villain Of the piece. There Was
never, SO she said, any danger Of