Father Chastised

LONG LOST FATHER--G. B. Stern-- Knopf ($2). Carl Bellairs, manager but far from owner of the recherche Tipstaff Restaurant in London, was exceedingly good at his job. His personal charm (he was a gentleman, and moved in fairly high society) was partly accountable; his knowledgeable nose for details did the rest. Twice a week, for instance, he had his waiters' finger nails manicured; every night before dinner he held a hand inspection. Superb cook in his own right, he was always inventing new dishes; his knowledge of wines was exact, exacting. His hobby was "romance." On account of it he had long ago left a beautiful but too-domestic wife, a too-infantile infant. Just as everything was going nicely, just as his latest flirtation was beginning to grow serious, his grown-up daughter turned up to plague him. At first he thought Lindsay a credit to him: she was not beautiful but she had charm, wit, sophistication, and she was on the verge of a big success in the musi-comedy world. They took to each other on sight, but Carl rapidly discovered his daughter was a little too clever for his comfort. It was bad enough when she trapped him into giving her unattractive young half-sister a horribly boring day-long birthday treat; but when she collected all his old flames for lunch and nearly ruined his new affair, it was almost too much. Father and daughter both thought they saw through one another, hut mutual affection made them oversuspicious. Though Lindsay finally lost him his good job and nearly drove him wild with anxiety about her morals, his fondness for her grew. When she sent her fiance round to ask her father's permission, and the young man explained to him that Lindsay was oldfashioned. Carl's modern-parent's cup was full.

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