THE OLD COUNTESS. By Anne Donglas Sedwick (Mrs. Basil de Silincourt). Houghton Mifflin, Cambridge, 1927.

AFTER she had finished "The Little French Girl" and was engaged in the pleasant occupation of watching it become a best seller, Mrs. de Selincourt found herself facing a problem which meets every successful novelist--the problem of repeating a triumph. Accordingly, she wrote "The Old Countess" and thereby solved the difficulty very nicely. Those who were pleased with the former book will derive, just as much enjoyment from this.

No novel dealing with the eternal triangle--in this case a man and two women--can be called entirely original in plot. There are, nevertheless, certain qualities in "The Countess" which compensate for lack of fresh material. In the first place there is the Countess herself, Madame de Lamouderie, who bears the distinction of being the most despicable character in the story and also the most interesting. In contrast to the other people, all of whom are hell bent for self sacrifice, she is delightful--which is probably what Mrs. de Selincourt intended her to be, thus allowing gentility to defeat villainy.

But it is neither the story nor the characters that constitute the greatest charm of the book--it is that very elusive thing called atmosphere. The little French village of Buissac is presented with all the force of one who knows whereof she writes. Seasons change, floods rage, the plot wavers, but one never loses sight of the French spirit as seen through English eyes. For those who like their romances tragic and especially for the ladies "The Old Countess" is certain to be entertaining story. It could have been made very saccharine, but instead it is filled with a rather quiet charm.