French British

THE SPHINX HAS SPOKEN--Maurice Dekobra--Brewer & Warren ($2).

Few Frenchmen have as nice an appreciation of British mentality as Andre Maurois. The few do not include Maurice Dekobra. His story of how a woman wrecked a Damon-&-Pythias friendship between two English officers is as flashily improbable as an operetta, but just as agreeable if you are in the mood.

When Captain Roberts went to his lonely blockhouse on the Afghan border he left another man's wife behind him. She did not write; he wondered why. When Lieutenant Nicholson came to join him, Roberts found out the reason: his second-in-command was now first with the lady. They became mortal enemies, but then there was a border uprising. Nicholson was badly wounded, and Roberts brought him in at the risk of his own life. They shook hands and agreed the woman was not worth it. On leave together (by now they were inseparable) they met her again, and she cold-headedly but hot-bloodedly set them at each other's throats.

Years later Roberts, now a military attache in the U. S., ran across Nicholson, a broken cinema extra. Once again they remembered they were Englishmen, shook hands.

The Author. Maurice Dekobra, 45, citizen of the world, one of Europe's most popular romance-writers, has lectured at the University of Berlin, shot big game in Africa, canoed on the Nile, translated Defoe, Jack London, O. Henry into his native French. His own books have been translated into 23 languages. During the War he was liaison officer with the British, Indian and U. S. Armies, and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor. Other books: The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars, The 13th Lover, The Clown Prince, The Love Clinic, Serenade to the Hangman.

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