Evening star., 1924-05-04
Reviews of New Books

=
tremendously interesting,
and amusing, too. That is what the
story is, as well, interesting, anus
ing. wholesome, open and believable
THE SCARLET IRIS. BY Vance
ThomI~on, author of "The Pointed
Tower" etc Illustrated by A. ID.
Rain. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-
Merrill Company.
A good provider, Vance Thompson,
who, bent upon romantic adventure,
selects place where romance flowers
On the one hand the
lovely Mediterranean, its bordering
crowd. On the other the rising
heights OF the Alps, its peasaBtry
primitive and superstitious. From
the pleasure seekers he chooses an
English group, noble Russian refu-
gee, mysterious lady, and an odd
whose errands are of suspicious and
shady implication. The business of
the adventure is to loosen young
Englishman from his plighted troth
to a most lovely girl, since the mys-
terious lady in the case has, without
any doubt whatever, convinced him
that his engagement is "a sadly pre-
mature one. OF course. a man of the
decent sort feels like a brute at this
point But, the lovely Betty, it turns
puti 10 lloI IltOlNSu AOuli Is
resilient, so long as there is another
chance right at hand. The rest of
the story is not SO easy for an .au-
thor. There are readers to be con-
sidered, you know. And that mystic
rious lady is really an "off 'un." She
admits it. But she is very beautiful
and very .disarming. As a matter of
fact she is good, too-that is. Well,
You see the authors difficulty. Read
1t for yourself. Then you'll know
whether or not he has commenced
omething that he could finish.
THE CITY or THE Sun. BY Edwin
L. Satin, author of Desert Dust"
etc Philadelphia: George w.
Jacobs & Co.
Being the narrative of Robert Nc
Clung Of Kentucky; or honest Tom
DoHgherty, the Lift'nant Pixies man;
of the fair young Dona Felisa whom
they sUccor; of that don hidalgo and
the scurvy beggar Santiago who. at
cross purposes, would thwart them;
and of that old Mexico and its omi-
nous desert and the hairy devils
therein, and therein the City of the
Sun, whittier trended the trails of
lust and love" This, the authors
synopsis of the adventure, forecasts
something of that which you in the
company of these adventures will
come upon, and, eventually, come
through. In the tabled old Aztec
city of the Sun your hair will stand
on end at heather rites. In the pas
sage of the desert you will come
upon other horrors, those of the
deadly desert itself But whatever
besetments appear, the romance IL
self is of an urgency to make them
all seem to be worth while. 30, you
will go from danger TO danger IN the
of Robert McCiung o. hsn
tucky, who is bent upon the high en-
Prise of succoring beauty in distress;
A highly romantic tale that Will
strain your powers of acceptance-or
it would were there leisure along It's
course for so foolish an enort as
that of weighing plausibiiiueS ana
ConsiStencies.
THE LADY OF PENTLANDs. BY
Elizabeth Jordan, author OF Inc
Blue Circle" etc. New 1orh. Inc
Century Company.
The mystery of this story is ITS
weakest part, a bizarre and iantastie
thing However, an acceptable Story
teller must be given credit Tor KNOW
ing what she is about. SO, one as
sumes. that the dilemma that gives
rise to the whole adventure Is OF
quality to warrant certain over
reaching in order to arrive
all. Something-some undiscoVeraDle
thing-is playing the very devil with
the household of Pentlands- Pahlc
is clearly in possession. Llnes'o1 ar
irving and departing servants give
evidence that things are dead Wrohs.
The two little children of the mas
for of the house are evidently under
some sort of evil spell. ThlS Is lhs
situation that causes the master OF
the house in direct denial OF MS SOL
emnly pledged word, to take 10 MIN
self a new wife. And at this point
the story really begins. For from
L; ic a good
whose appeal lies in the quality or
the young woman who has taken
upon herself the nominal role OF Wife,
really for the sake of living ana,
equally, for the sake of earning that
living through, the good sense and the
good charm that, on the one ndlu'
dispels the mystery and, on the other'
makes a foolish man forget an alto
gether foolish VOW.
WITHOUT GLOVES. BY James B.
Hendrix, author of North" etc.
New York: G. p. Putnam's Sons.
A story of hard knocks throughout.
1t begins literally with these in a
New York prize ring, where a bud
ding "champ-+Mike ,Dufy-hetrays
the yellow streak that with uHcanny
insight his boosters and trainers had
sensed as his chief danger. After a
most exciting line of action in this
quarter the story shifts to the north:
where in lumber camp the young
man discovers the prize ring to be
pleasant playground beside this ad-
venture with hard men, a hard coun-
try, a brutal corporation And, of
course, the hardest fight Of all for
him is the one that he has finally to
put up against the yelleW streak in
side himself The reformation-fo
that is, in substance. the sum OF this
worked out in setting
that presents an actuality of effect.
The action is robust and over beyond
that much of the time. The boy htmr
self puts up a fight that is believ-
able. and this is saying a great deal
for the story, since reforms come
hard, either in life or in fiction. Yet
this one reads as if it might have
come to pass. At any rate, one hopes
so, for the boy is an engaging fell
low, in spite of himself.
THE DEAR PRErENDER. BY Alice
Ross Colver. Illustrated by Charles
HargenS, jr. Philadelphia: The
Penn Publishing Company.
She might, in life, be terribly wear
ing. These incorrigibly cheerful peo-
pie are. However, she reads well. In
the first place she is pretty. That
helps. Then she appears to be sin
cere in her desire to smooth out some
of the rough spots. That helps, too.
good deal for such high motives She
is, at first, a governess-motherie
boy and girl. You know the rest of
the story. This is the very kind of
girl to make a grouchy widower sit
up and begin to look around again.
That is the story-a simple story of
things that ought to be so and rarely
are. But people cry for this kind of
story and here is one of the best of
the kind.
PENELOPE AND THE GOLDEN Or
CHARD. By Dorothea Casteihun,
r.