Evening star., 1934-09-09

found in human beings, Judith pos
SeSsed devouring conscience, which
lay dormant during her earlier life
put awakened to torment her after
her return to Germany. She then
gave herself to remorse, religious OBJ
servances and the care Of the sick
and poor. Deep in the forest. in a
wretched hut, she lived the life of a
hermit, atoning for her sins, but oc-
casionally visited by heeting visions
OF some Of the scenes Of her past life.
Nora -Wydenbruck, a new
writer, has here produced a vigorous
romance in the eighteenth century
tradition, with a heroine, charming
and unfeminine. who dominates every
part Of the scene.
HEIRS OF MRS. WELLINGTON. BY
Mathilde Eiker. Garden City:
Doubleday, Doran a. Co.
THE brief death notice Of "Julia
Curtis, widow of the late Ira
Blount Willingdon, in the 51st year
Of her age" in its conventionality in
dicated nothing of all that would be
said about town when people read the
news. The first thing said in the VIII
lingdon family was said by Lydia VIII
lingdon, wife of the deceased woman's
step-son: She was more than ST."
"Yes," replied her husband, Ira Bag
ley Wilmington, she would have been
so in two months" Congratulations
were exchanged that the late Ira
Blount Willingdon had left his widow
only the interest from a trust fund
during her life and that now the prin-
cipal, somewhat depleted by economic
conditions, would revert to Bagley and
his sister, Avis Pettigrew. What Mrs.
Willingdon had of her own to be-
queath would undoubtedly go to Bur-
ton, her chauffeur, with whom her
relations had, according to popular
gossip, been other than those of en-
ployer and employe. Popular gossip
was correct and her property went as
predicted.
Miss Eiker's satirical story Is en-
tirely concerned with the reactions of
the Willingdons and Burton and his
daughter Olive to the situation created
and gradually revealed by Mrs. Julia
Willingdon's death. Bagley and Lydia
are quite normal people; they have
disapproved of their step-mother and
hated her for her ribald personality
and the discredit she has brought on
the family name. Avis, not at all
normal, secretive and aloof, surpris-
ingly engages Burton as her chauffeur
after Mrs. Willingdon's sensational
funeral. Interest centers on Avis and
her husband. Burton, Olive and young
Blount Wilmington, son of Bagley.
Many of the episodes are melo-
dramatic and character Interpretation
is not profound. Miss Eiker's dexterous
phraSinz and ironic view of life have
shaped her clever style. Her first sue
cess was won with MRS. Mason's
Daughters" which still remains her
most daring and most penetrating
work.
ATTENDING MARVELS. A Pata-
gonian Journal. BY George Gay
lord Simpson. New York: The
Macmillan Co.
ITRAVEL with a purpose, to fnd
something new, makes the usual
dawdling about through museums
and gazing at scenery from smooth
motor roads seem very inferior, that
is If one has the scientific mind and
the necessary vigor. Herman Mel
vile spoke in "Moby Dick" of "all the
attending marvels of thousand Pat
agonian sights and sounds" and DR..
Simpson, associate curator Of verte-
brate paleontology at the American
Museum of Natural History. found
most of the marvels when he con-
Quoted the Scarritt expedition to
| Patagonia. This is not the official
1 report of the expedition. That will
be filed in scientific libraries. This
is for the reader who likes bit OF
vicarious exploration but cannot re-
member numerical data or technical
terms 1t is the story of the side
line adventures Of DR.. Simpson and
his associates in Patagonia, where
their object was the search for fossil
beasts and birds. The land Of their
exploration Is called Patagonia"
though there is no longer such a
political division.
Instructions about "how to behave
in Patagonia" are not the least enter
tanning part of the book, though they
may be of little practical use. Yerba
mate is as universal a cheering drink
as tea is in England and must be
offered a visitor Immediately. Un-
fortunately it is not the only drink
nor the strongest, and taking to
drink" Is a matter of course as a
method Of release from the many
tragedies of Patagonian life. After a
struggle with the servant problem the
party secured the services Of Ricardo
Balina as cook, who seemed Cheerful
and willing" but turned surly, oh
jected because the doctors friend,
Coley, disliked garlic, brandished a
butcher knife about and went mad.
The camps pets included oStriches,
armadillos, a baby guanaco and a
baby owl. Hard work occupied much
of the time, digging for fossils In the
barranca, or high cliff, at Lake
Colhue- Huapi, arranging the speci-
mems, writing copious notes. We are
told that Charles Darwin was the
first to hint, in 1881, that Patagonia
could shed light on some of the
ancient mysteries Of the origin of
species. The expedition ended with a
flourish, as its members drove up in
their truck to the government house
at Buenos Aires, while two decorative
sentrtes stared at them blankly and
several common, garden sentries con-
Verped on them with fixed hayonetS