Evening star., 1932-10-01
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C.. BOWERMAN.

An interesting supplement to the
journal" Of Arnold Bennett, OF which
the first volume was recently pub
lished, is the small volume, MY Arnold
Bennett" "by Marguerite. his wife"
published shortly after his death,
March 27, 1881. Arnold Bennett mar
ried Marguerite Soulie, in Paris, July
4, 1907. They lived for some time in
Paris and Fontainebleu, where he wrote
what is considered his best work, THE
Old Wives Tale" They then returned
to England and lived part Of the time
in London and part at the country eS-
tate which he purchased and renovated
at considerable expense, Comarques,
Thorpe -Soken, Essex. This home,
where she spent seven OF her happiest
years, his wife especially loved and she
was deeply grieved when her husband,
always restless and anxious for change,
she says, decided to sell it. To her
it represented permanency and the Sc
curity which she sought from life. At
Comarques officers of troops quartered
in the district during the World War
found a hospitable and luxurious home.
After Arnold Benefits death his wife
sought permission to place a memorial
tablet in the Church of ThOrpe-le-
Soken. but this was found not to be
possible, so she secured the consent Of
the owners to place one on wall of
the house which had been their home
4
The story Of the separation Of Arnold
Bennett and his wife is told with SIM
plicity and pathoS and one cannot
doubt that. whatever the real cause OF
their lack of harmony. Marguerite al
ways retained her admiration and love
for him. She says: las a result Of
misunderstanding with my husband, I
was asked, to my great surprise, by
our solicitors to leave our fiat at once
for the sake of Arnold's work I obeyed
like an ignorant fool and I was never
allowed to return to it. There was no
judicial separation, but a deed Of
separation was drawn. We have lived
apart eyer since. To me years of in
tense loneliness and suffering.
think my husband came to the con-
clusion. after a while, that our separa-
ton was a great mistake, but circum-
stances overwhelmed him. He was
in love with life, not with security.
We felt no resentment, but I have
always felt, and I still claim. that our
separation was great mistake which
could have been easily avoided if other
people had minded their own business
and if my husband had not been an
influential man that people played up
to. Those around us. knowing us
both. were well aware that, funda-
mentally speaking, Arnold and were
born for each other That has been
pointed out by famous writer who
appreciated US, knew us both well and
knew what he was talking about
Hugh Walpole." Perhaps the wife has
found the real reason for the separa-
ton when she says: Arnold was by
nature a bachelor He was then, un-
consciously striving TO regain his free
dom if only for a time" OF
her own life she says: Personally !
have hated my freedom, not wanting to
make use of it. I have a home in
London and all these years the separa-
ton occurred in October, 1920 I have
followed the wonderful progress Of Ar
nold's success up till the end. I have
heard from him every quarter, when
sending my allowance mot fixed by
law but by himself of his own free wilD
and when writing to me at Christmas
and on my birthday without fail. Can
I believe Arnold no longer loved me?
I cannot and death has taken
him away. He was too i'll to ask
for anybody but his valet and his sec
retary I was anxiously waiting for
him to ask for me. Alas! no one
suggested to him that I desired to see
him, to nurse him. (He used to say:
Marguerite is born nurse.D Through
our deed of separation, though there
had never been bitterness between us,
had been asked to give my oath
never to enter his home again unless
he asked for me-"
MY Arnold Bennett" contains many
interesting anecdotes. 1t is her story;
his is in the journal" After his
fathers death Bennett took upon him
self the responsibility of his mother
and his one unmarried sister. HIS
mother he settled in home in her ma
tive town, Burslem, in the Midlands.
The sister he wished to see married, so
he invited three of her admirers in rurn
for week ends and said to each, No
good coming again if you don't make up
your mind about marrying my sister be-
fore you leave His sister was soon
engaged and he then felt free to go to
Paris and live and write. Soon after
| his marriage he and his new French
| wife visited the mater" at Burslem
The elder Mrs. Bennett liked her
daughter in law, in an undemonstrative
way, and Just before she left said to
| her, Remember that If at any time
you don't get on I shall know it is not
your fault" When Benefits father
died, his fathers last breath had
hardly left his body when his son, such
| horror he had of corpses, ordered that
| it should be put Immediately into a
| coffin and taken out Of his bed room to
| the green house. He always hated
! illness and he had no use for what was
useless He wanted others to think as
| he did in these matters and set the ex-
! ample by acting according to his own
Piles feelings He was true to himself
and he followed his impulse" Once
when his wife was obliged to go to
Paris for serious operation, he let her
60 alone, to the surprise and disap-
proval of her French friends, who found
no excuse in his dislike for everything
connected with illness. An amusing
! episode is told in connection with
Arnold Benefits first meeting with
George Doran, the American publisher
who was in Paris and was to meet
Bennett to talk about American publi-
cation of some Of his novels. Bennett
was very anxious to make a favorable
| impression and wished to entertain
him in their own home, rather old
fashioned fiat, for dinner. Mrs. Bennett
did her best, with her one incompetent
young servant and the aid of a first
class caterer, and on the evening Of the
dinner, dressed in her best white lace
gown, felt that the results were rather
satisfactory. After the reception Of the
guest in the drawing room, when they
left for the dining room the nervous
author turned down the kerosene lamp
or thought he did. Before coffee, which
the nervous wife intended to make in
a machine on the table, her husband
asked her to go to the drawing room
on some trivial excuse, really so that he
could talk alone to Doran. In the draw
| ing room she found that the lamp had
been turned up instead of down and
everything was covered with SCOT. She