Evening star., 1934-01-31
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.
THE WAY OF THE SCARLET PM
PERNEL. BY Baroness Orczy. New

during That memorable series OF years
OF not so long ago, when the historic
novel was enjoying a wide popularity,
Baroness OrcZy created gallant young
! Englishman and set him to work in
! defiance of the leaders of the French
revolution as the head of an army Of
secret agents. operating, under the en-
blem OF tiny scarlet primrose, a sys-
tenn of rescue and salvation from prison
or the guillotine of countless innocent
and terror stricken citizens of France
marked by the mob for punishment
| The Scarlet Pimpernel became the hero
Of number of fascinating and highly
instructive novels by this author, and
then there came a period Of rest. the
long lapse causing his admirers to Won
der whether his creator had decided to
! abandon him at the height of his pop
1 ularity.
That the baroness has not placed him
In the category of the bygones and been
! satisfied TO leave him crowned with the
| laurelS of his last victories Is good news
| to the readers of good fiction. and par
| ticularly to those who like to return to
old friends. The saga of Sir Percy
Blakeny now continues in new novel
which presents him just as he appeared
| In the earlier stories and as vigorously
! engaged in the treacherous business Of
rendering aid and safety to the victims
| Of the French mob.
| This time the romance centers
around Josette Gravier. shy and
charming creature who has come to
Paris to live with her lifelong friend
and companion. Louise de Vandeleur,
now the wife OF Bastien Croissy and
the mother Of sickly child. The mar
riage of Louise and Bastien had been
the social event of the season during
which 1t took place, for both families
were wealthy and Bastien was a widely
| known and successful advocate But
| the revolution had brought cha nges and
| losses. and as the story opens. the sub
sistence of this little family is from
day to day problem.
! Unable to obtain in Paris adequate
medical service and proper food for his
| i'll son. CrOisSy appeals for permission
| to remove his family to an estate in the
country which he still owns. Such per-
mission is denied. and in desperation he
yields 10 a temptation presented through
some old correspondence with several
members Of the revolutionary govern
ment. engaged in at the instigation Of
| Baron de BatZ. agent of the Austrian
| government whose intrigues and
! schemes To overthrow Dantnn and his
! followers had been as futile as they
were bizarre He attempts to use these
letters TO extort from Chabot. Bazire.
Fabre dEglantine and perhaps even
! the great Danton himself the privilege
Of removing his sick son and his wife
10 the country, and is promptly muir
| dered
The care of his unfortunate family
falls upon JoSette and Maurice Rever-
sac. who has been an invaluable clerk
! and assistant TO CrOisSv and who is
/ deeply in love with Josette Dark
! hours of anxiety hang over the little
group for they know that the letters
for which CrOiSsv WAS murdered and
/ which would send their writers to the
guillotine were not found upon him.
and that no member of the household
will be spared death by violence until
, those precious bits of paper are safely
! in the hands Of the traitors who wrote
them JoSette pleads with her friends
! for faith in the reality and the powers
! of the Scarlet Pimperncl. and secretly
I she prayS ardently COR his aid in their
I troubles But to Louise and Maurice he
! is a myth. and the stories of his mir
| acles are merely the fantastic halluci-
nations of the superstitious and illlt-
crate masses.
Josette's faith. however. is not To be
shaken, and in answer to her prayers
| Louise and her baby are mySterIouSlV
and safely escorted by the agents of the
gallant primrose knight out Of France
and across the Channel to England But
Maurice is cast into prison and Josette
! takes UP the battle for him. facing the
| wrath Of Chabot by forcing her way
| into his sumptuous sanCtum and
threatening him with blaCkmail unless
her friend is released She is guaran-
teed safe conduct to England 10 obtain
the letters from Louise. ana she accepts
in good faith Chabots promise that
Reversac will be released Once the
damaging letters are in his hands. how
ever he has no intention OF letting
either of them live.
1 Evil surrounds JoSette from the mo-
ment of her departure for she mistakes
the kindly man who tenders various
/ courteSies for one of the aides OF the
Scarlet Pimpernel Chabot's spy. muir
derer and thief leads her into series
! of exciting experiences, but the follow
ers of the courageous Englishman sue
cessfully outwit him and finally that
beloved and chivalrous young knight
himself leads Chabot and his party OF
bodvguards through a Snowstorm into
remote settlement and there forces
| him into the commission of acts which
I finally bring him to the guillotme.
! 1t is a thrilling and heroic story OF
! post t-revOlution days in France and a
/ welcome addition to the saga OF the
| knight whose undertakings bore the
| guarantee of the primrose.
/ HISS BOOM. BLAH, BY George
Middleton. New York: Samuel
French.
| The very descriptive title OF TINS new
play BY George Middleton relates to
the three extraordinary phases OF
! American history which have followed
each other in violent form since the
year 1917, when the United States en-
| tered the Great War.
The work is comedy in three acts
and fifty scenes and shows wildly the
! pell pell plunges of the public into the
| Hiss of war. the Boom of the Specula-
I ton period and the Blah of the depres-
sion years. Krusell, monarch Of the
financial and utility world, is the central
figure. and it is through his genius at
making the public do what he wants it
to do that the economic structure of
] the country is reduced to state OF
collapse and millions of the population
| brought to ruin.
In the first act the Krusell organiza-
, ton is conducting the war for America.
He pulls the strings and the money
! flows into the war treasury, mills and
| factories double and treble their out
| put. slackers and conscientious objectors
! lose their status as respected citizens
and Krusell becomes the public idol, the
benefactor the moving spirit in the
! huge tide of patriotism which sweeps
| the country. In fact, he is the prize
profiteer in that galaxy of noble gentle
men who grew rich on the war.
During the second phase of madness
which swept this country into a wild
| orgy of spending and speculation.
KruSell is the magnanimous counter
part of the insults and the Virgins and
others whose shameful activities have
now become public knowledge and whose
names have become unpleasant by
words in the streets. 1t is the genius of
Krusell which organizes companies and