The New York herald., 1922-05-28


on the evils Of divorce, and the wick
edness Of yielding to the sentimental
impulses. Naturally the impact of
her sons scandalous affair is tre-
mendous. At first she quarrels with
him, but 1t gradually dawns upon
her that she has been wrong in
her beliefs and that Ronald and
Aliette are Courageous" justified
and entitled to full SOCIAL and legal
sanction. So she decides to come to
their help.
Mr.. Frankau's presentation of old
Julia is admirable. at all points, even
to the somewhat bizarre outcome of
her growth. For when all else fails to
move the savage husband to sue, Julia
decides to make novel out Of the
case and bludgeon him into action
by publicity. Her health is brooen,
but she manages to finish the book
before her death, and also to create
singular complications In her viii,
the details of which may be left to
the readers curiosity. The thing is
striking piece Of Characterization
sympathetically understanding and
brilliant in execution.
But then comes the top layer,
which is sheer melodrama, involving
murder trial, astonishing resem-
blances, perjured evidence and a
whole movie scenario. This, too,
is excellently worked out along its
own lines, to good, If very STACEY
effects. 1t even involves the burn
ing of the will and other antiquated
stage devices. This section is crude.
but vigorous enough. 1t leads to the
inevitable epilogue of a promise of
future happiness for the eloping
couple and their baby. Mr.. Frankau
explicitly states his thesis:
The Aliettes of England The
women whose sole excuse for
matehood is Lowell There are half
million such in Great Britain to-
day: Women whose only crime
is that. craving happiness. they
have taken their happiness in de-
finace of some male. They are of
all classes, our Aliettes. You will
find them alike in our West End
and in our slumS Some
times their own strength, some
times death, sometimes money,
sometimes the clemency of their
legal owners sets them free. But,
for the most part. they live in out
lawry.
There is also a queer side-light
upon changing conditions in social
London to-day IN the suggestion that
if Julia and Aliette and Ronald had
been a little less obstreperous in
their position they might have done
well enough. socially. without any
diverse. He tells us
Social London, you see was in
a state of moral flux. Cadogan
Square, Belgravia, and Knights
bridge still clung rigidly to the
tenets of the Victorian past
But for Mayfair, parts of Kens-
ington, and the more artistic SUBJ
urbs, matrimonial issues had as
sumed new aspect since the war.
Actually tide of freer thinking on
the sex question had begun to
sweep over the whole of England.
Happiness had not yet come TO be
acknowledged the only possible
basis of monogamy, but divorce re-
form was no longer only in the
air-it was more or less on the
table of the house.
Despite its patent artistic faults.
in its redundancy and occasional
lapses into sensationalism, the book
is steadily interesting. and of some
significance as a study of changing
social conditions. Mr.. Frankau is
always a forceful writer, and it
should be added that there is no
taint OF righteousness, no leer in
this story. 1t holds nothing for the
smut hound" and is nowhere vul-
gar or cheap in that direction.
H. L. PANGBORN.