Venus Observed

As told briefly by Watts (Post), is about the aging "Duke of Altair, lover of astronomy and women, [who] brings three of his ex-mistresses to his home with the intention of marrying one of them, but falls in love with the young daughter of his amiably dishonest secretary. In the end, the girl turns to his son, and the Duke has to be satisfied with one of the others." Watts adds, however, that the "plot is not the author's chief interest. The style, the mood and the puckishness of his intellect are everything."