The New York herald., 1922-05-07

fierce labors toward the achievement
of his ambition, to the moment when
he finds that he is still lonely and
frightened, and that he needs love
and understanding even more than
success, this Robert is a character
four square and living. worth the
knowing, and in spite of his defiant
refusal Of all human sympathy and
comradeship, lovable. 1t was not his
fault that he had spent the first ten
years of his life in the Dark House
that house domineered over by his
father, a man of frantic RACES and
ungoverned temper, that house where
the tradespeople came storming and
shouting for their money, where the
pawnshop and the bailiff were inti-
mate facts, where the stepmother
whined and lied and bullied. and
where his only friend was Christine,
friend of his dead mother, who did
what she could for the child, the
father. the miserable house, but who
could do very little.
The shadow of this house, of its
terroY. its cruelties, its humiliations,
make a prison for Robert out of
which it is difficult for him to win
his way-more particularly since
he does not recognize that he is
prisoner. Alone he would never have
escaped. But there is Francey-
And F'rancey is wonderful.
There is sense of adventure
throughout the book Strange peo-
pie come into it, each intent on the
business of living. There is Co.'S
grave, with his flaming red head,
timid soul. slight body, and mounting
spirit. There is Miss Edwards, who
is in the chorus, who spends her days
amid people who struggle for their
daily bread under all sorts of diff
cult handicaps; there is the grim little
figure of Ricardo. humble teacher in
boys school, but rebel and vision
airy. Among them all 1t is Francey
who sees. who understands, who
leads, yet who is the gentlest and
quietest of all. Francey divines well
enough that Robert is in prison.
The love story is as unusual as
! the rest OF this clever and passionate
book-passionate in that sense of
abounding life, of the pressure of
events. of thoughts and feelings.
The French dancer who plays her
part in the lives of several of the
characters, thing of flame, self
seeking and destructive, yet with an
odd impersonal interest in the hap
piness of others, capable of giving
something, volatile and yet real; ca
desperate suffering. Gyp Labelle is
one side of the experience of life of
which Robert is the other. She first
wakes in him a sense of romance,
beauty and magic. while he is still a
child. and it is she who brings him
close to the doorway that leads out
of the Dark House into the sun
shine But F'rancey must open that
door. and 1t is to Francey that he
belongs. He wanders far away, but
it is only by that long way round
which is really the shortest way
home. For he must know how
many are the steps that lead to love.
and take them each one, if he is to
leave the Dark House entirely be-
hind him.
Miss Wylie has a sense of color
and rhythm. and is delightful read
ing aside from the story she may
have to tell. There is perhaps more
of darkness and striving in this story
than most readers care for, yet
there is an extraordinary quality of
delight in the book. too. If Robert
is considerably knocked about by
life, if we meet, as we go along with
him, disappointment, loss, bitterness,
yet these are not the end, and they
are not the reality. Francey, with
her smiling courage. her serenity.
her trust and patience and humor,
she is the reality.
There is storm here, but there is
peace and loveliness. too. Many
| times tears touch the ewes. for