Evening star., 1934-09-02

ample opportunity for its exercise, for
her scene is the whole Victorian
Edwardian period, during which the
tobacco business of the London Ducroix
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. to heights Of
prosperity and then declines in the
pre-war years. AS Chris Mallory, Cath
crime Ducroix's grandson, watches
the tearing down of the shop of
Hanson's, the "roofiess walls, from
which the paper had been torn away
:. amid cascades of falling plaster"
he reflects with the pessimism of
youth that in the scene Of havoc be-
fore him is "a symbol of the human
spirit" A few weeks before HanSon's
has been sold to syndicate.
But before the decline Catherine
Ducroix has astonished the London
business world by her brilliantly sue
ceSsful management of Hanson's, left
to her at her fathers death. She is
in her dominance and her talent for
business companion to Mary Hervey
of Storm Jameson's fine trilogy begin
ming with 1.-THE Lovely Ship" Like
Mary Hervey, also, she contributes by
her possesSiveness to the embittering
of her personal life. Some of the
practical sense applied to her business.
if applied also to her choice of her
first husband, would have saved her
much of the sorrow Of her life. Richard
Temple, an artist, and thorough
cad, in leaving her for the hamboyant
Maria Perrott, insinuates that the
blame for the failure of their mar
riage is hers, yet everything we learn
about him, both before and after the
separation, enforces the conviction
that Catherine is not a loser by his
permanent departure. Her second
marriage, with William Roscoe, head
of another prominent tobacco firm,
gives her the stability and the COM
panionship which the first has entirely
lacked, and If there is no rapture,
Catherine has learned from Richard
the impermanence Of rapture. Being
successful himself, William is not
jealous of her success; having created
his own freedom, he does not feel that
she enslaves him.
In rebuilding her personal life after
the elimination of an unsatisfactory
husband, Catherine finds, as many
another woman has found, that the
child Of that husband has many Of
the fathers qualities. The clash with
her daughter Rosamund comes when
the girl insists on marrying spurious
captain, who has been forced to resign
from his regiment on account OF a
scandal Catherine attempts to pre-
vent the marriage, Rosamund RACES
at her mother, calls her "mercenary, ;"
"cruel," accuses her Of knowing
nothing of "love-of the real things
in life" 1t is the poignantly familiar
situation Of the parent compelled to
choose between being hard, autocratic,
and permitting a child to make what
seems a tragic mistake. Rosamund's
marriage takes place. Youth wins,
and returns later for age to pay the
bills. Catherine. an old woman, in
donitable, fixes her final hopes on her
grandson, but Chris can't see himself
going into Roscoe's to grow up to VIII
liam's place, taking the chair, man
aging the whole concern" making
"stinkers for the proletariat to smoke"
The World War comes, and the end Of
an era. We leave Catherine and Will
liam rising stifny from their flreside
chairs to go to bed after hearing the
news that England has come In"
william says: It'll raise the duty on
tobacco" and Three months give it. q"
Chris kisses his grandmother good
night and decides to let her nave her
nights sleep before he tells her that
he has already Joined up.
y 4 y r
THE FREE FISHERS. BY John
Buchan. Boston: Houghton Mif-
fin Co.
A DVENTURE not too much tied to
= reality, with plenty Of romance.
similarly unhampered, makes John
Buchan's novels popular with readers
who do not always demand stark facts
and Freudian psychology. Mr.. Buchan,
a Scot who lives at oxford and COM
mutes daily to London, writes in the
tradition of Scott and Dumas and
Stevenson-a very good tradition and
worthy to be kept alive. His duties
as lawyer, business man and member
of Parliament have not destroyed his
fertile and varied imagination, which
he stimulates by riding to mounds.
fishing and mountain climb He
was recently appointed lord high
commissioner for Scotland, but here
comes another romance, just the same
one to add credit to the author
of "Greenmantle," "Prester john"
witch Wood" ''Montrose" and "a
Prince of the Captivity" Scotland,
Mr.. Buchans favorite setting, is the