Chapter 4

I have not before met with a book by A. S. M. HUTCHINSON, the author of _The Clean Heart_ (HODDER AND STOUGHTON). That is my loss, for he has a curious intensity of vision, an arresting way of making objective his thoughts by a sort of nervous battering emphasis of repetition. And he has things to say. A curious theme and painful. One _Wriford_, editor and novelist, breaks down from overwork and hovers about the ineffably dread borderline, crossing and recrossing. And first that grotesque tramp, _Puddlebox_, drunken, devout, affectionate optimist, with his "Oh, ye loonies of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise Him and magnify Him for ever;" then the oldest sea-captain living, with his "portograph" in _The Daily Picture_; then a preparatory school, full of boys; last, and most effectively, simple, sweet laughing _Essie_, daughter of the cert. plumber--all help variously to win him out of his morbid wrestling to mental and spiritual health. A live book this, and to be commended very warmly. But there are one or two difficulties. Those grotesqueries of the tramp and the fantastically laughable adventures of _Wriford_ in his company--do they mingle quite smoothly with the painfully realistic manifestations of poor _Wriford's_ state? Can so dreadful a theme ride off successfully on so bizarre a steed? And then again, was not the whole agony of the man on the physical and mental, not the spiritual plane? For did not _Wriford_ before his illness give many obvious signs of unselfishness? Is there not in effect a certain confusion of the clean heart with the unclouded mind? I suspect the author has some subtle sufficient answer. And anyway I urge everyone to make acquaintance with two very lovable folk, the tramp and little _Essie_, among many others.

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_Ape's Face_ (LANE) takes its title from the name bestowed by her family upon the heroine. It is not, you will admit, either a usual or an attractive name; but then Miss MARION FOX is by no means a usual writer, though she is in many ways a strangely attractive one. Perhaps you recall certain earlier tales of hers which displayed the same characteristics that you will find in this, though I think they were not perhaps quite so definitely bogie. I used a wrong qualification there. Definite is exactly what Miss FOX'S bogies are not, and in this they show their own good sense, and hers. She knows quite well that to define a supernatural element is to lessen enormously its flesh-creeping capabilities. Your flesh will creep all right over _Ape's Face_ several times; though perhaps you may agree with me at the end that the book is really an enlarged Christmas tale, and would gain by being reduced to magazine dimensions. I have I not yet told you what it is all about. Very briefly, there is a family and a curse. This curse--with regard to the exact details of which I still find myself a little vague--used to express itself by causing murders from time to time among the brothers and sisters of the House. The tale is told in a detached and purposely elusive way that adds much to its effect, chiefly as it is felt by one _Armstrong_, a stranger who comes to stay with the _Mortons_ at a time when their very unpleasant family habit was due to manifest itself. "You cannot move about the house without feeling that the thing has nearly _broken through_." The italics in this chance quotation are mine, and used to emphasize a rare feeling for the most haunting phrase, a feeling which gives distinction throughout to the story.

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Illustration: _Special Constable_ (_to suspicious lounger_). "NOW, LOOK HERE, IF YOU DON'T CLEAR OFF, I'LL--TELL YOU WHAT I'LL DO--I'LL CALL A POLICEMAN!"

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"Experienced Chauffeur wants situation; careful diver."

_Advt. in "Gloucester Citizen."_

A useful man in a whirlpool of traffic.

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"When the foe was announced, the country men did open the doors of their stables to let the beasts over run in the neighbourhood. Amongst them was a bull, who came out in the street, similling, bending his hocks and waiterig anxious.

At this time, the gun started to boom. The beast, then, urshed and gone away from the village. On the knoll a german section had just taken place. The bull fell amongst, his horns forward, fool of rage. He knocked down the Germans like skittles."

_"Democratie de L'Ouest (English-French edition)."_

This is almost as picturesque as some of the work of the "Eye-witness at General Headquarters."

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