Evening star., 1927-07-17

source and nature are wholly beyond
his own reckoning.
* "
GREEN FOREST. BY Natalie Sedg-
wick Colby. New York: Harcourt,
Brace & Co.
IT'S a magic forest, or maybe but
l. state of mind, which amounts to
about the same thing. In either case
II nrovides safe retreat from many
n peskv situation--for wives running
away from husbands, for husbands
themselves seeking peace and quiet
away from wives. A kindly and bene-
ficent device is the green forest,
where ASTONISHING happenings abound,
all in the stricteSt decorum, since the
deep wood of human imagining does
not deliver it's errancies into the open
of censorious convention. Upon It's
surface. however, this Is a wide.open
story, as prohibitive of individual pri-
vacy as the close-drawn world or a
ships passengers could make 1t. A
short story, 30. running only the nve
days of a crossing from America TO
France. Used to sharp observation OF
people and to equally keen comment
upon them, this author supplies an
amusing human comedy from the sail.
EI
and fluid technic of comparison to pin
personal foibles down for minute and
devastating scrutiny is an outstand-
ing stamp of this authors way with
the human. Therefore. this is di-
verting story, save to the one under
the pin. Very clever in such superb.
cial treatment. Then it turns around
with its face to the green forest. from
which it discloSes a delicate and subtle
story of love between the man left
behind when the ship sailed away and
the only really beautiful person on
that ship. And this, after all, is the
main thread in the incident-one that
finally leaves the whole matter with
the taint of tragedy upon 1t. The
schooled critic will say that this story
has no structure as SUCH no substan-
tial purpose to guide the builder from
together in n colierency set by that
purpose. And without doubt the
writer under such decision will come
back with the declaration that all she
planned to do was to make .waywise
comment on the society roundabout
in this case that aboard ship-with an
undercurrent Of romance drawn from
a woman's dreams. this by far the
best Of the whole matter.
X X X X
THE GOLDEN LOTUS. By q. Z.
Locke. author Of THE Scarlet
Macaw," etc. Boston: l.. c. Page
& Co.
URE sure your sin will find you out"
Here is a much debated theory,
with the bulk Of actual evidence sup
porting the negative of this assertion.
Yet it has done good service to the
whole tribe of moralists. And now.
adays it is taking a hand in romances
of the adventurous brand. G. E.
Locke makes use Of it in this new
mystery story. Here is that sudden
puZZling death without which crime
pursuit in fiction is unable to find its
own legs and to get up on it's own
feet. A man Of high repute has been
done to death, no one can even. sur
mise how. This starts the great game
of chasing a criminal, a pursuit that
crosses the world to find there an
early piece of wrongdoing on the part
Of the murdered man. This discovery
at least takes care of the maxim for
the time being. However. 1t Is the
character Of the pursuit that counts
for novelty and gusto in the case in
hand. The victim has daughter,
modern girl disposed to take the mat.
ter of detection and revenge into her
own hands. The modern girl would
be likely to do that. And it gives Mr..
Locke a chance to complicate and
intensity the pursuit in manner
greatly pleasing to the somewhat
worn readers of duplicate and tripli-