The New York herald., 1922-07-02

though the ancient legend made
Narcissus lover above all of beauty
his own. but beauty still-and Mrs.
Scott makes her subjects slaves to
an ugly selfishness, miserable in a
prison from which they cannot es-
cape, which they hate and which yet
fascinates them.
Julia Farley is married to widow
er with two children. He is much
older than she. scientific man who
has charge of laboratory in medi-
can mandatory. She is diseon-
tented and uneasy. seeking the
satisfactions of vanity rather than
of passion, but finding her only
way to such satisfaction through sex.
Beautiful, cold, self-centered, inn
mersed in the contemplation of her
own suffering and emptiness, Julia Is
the center of interest to four men.
Her husband is infatuated with her
loveliness. and his need of that love-
illness; Dudley. the painter whom she
takes for a lover. uses her, as she
uses him. to satisfy a gnawing
egoism that must have domination,
admiration. must feel it possesses
the power to make another suffer:
Paul, the gangling youth of eighteen.
is sensually drawn to her with a
green. unripe passion that is nearer
hate than love. and that finds relief
in horrible dallying with May. the
fifteen -year-old stepdaughter. who is
Hurst. a successful business man
with a sentimental attraction toward
all women. a wife physically repul
sive to him. who is quite swept off
mis- feet by Julia. thinking to find in
her some return for life that has
been to him something never under
stood. a bewilderment. a thing of
blind impulses and uncomprehended
loneliness. He too wants to own her.
to dominate her, but he mingles with
this sentiment of reverence and
strange reaction toward beauty.
vague impulse to give as well as to
take.
The book is presented in a series
of vivid Impressions Impressions
that include not only the inner work
ings of the human creatures involved
but the appearance of the scene
where they posture. Infinite detail
is employed. yet swift detail. Here.
for instance. is a passage that will
| indicate Mrs. Scott's style:
"The curtains moved and the spots
| of light on the floor opened and
closed like eyes. A fly had crept
inside the screens and made a sing
ing noise against the window. A
vase of flowers was on the table. and
the shadow of blossom. rigid and
| delicate. fell in the bar of sunshine
There was pale sunshine on the
chessboard at which May and Paul
were playing. Light took the color
from the close cropped hair at the
base of Paul's neck. and when May
glanced up at him filled her eyes
with a brilliant vacancy so that she
other bit that will emphasize the
quality of these descriptive portions
that are always closely allied to the
mood of the particular situation to
which they form the background:
Through the tall open windows
of the dining room Julia. seated with
some mending. could see the dull
line of the roofs in the next street
and the dreary sky shadowed with
soiled. milky looking clouds. The
grass in the backyard was a bright
dead green. 1t had grown tall
Flurries bf moist. acrid wind swept
across it. and it bent all at once
with a long. undulant motion that
was like voluptuouS despair. The
tablecloth rose heavily and fell in a
spent gesture against the legs under
it, Julia's black muslin dress beat
gently about her ankles
Ths book is a thoroughly sustained
piece of writing. where the mood is
never suffered to relax. The chair:
and tables. the trees. the grass. tbs
wind itself are all linked. all aid il
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