his work with a free
conscience. It certainly seems to me very unusual in quality. The
theme of the tale is the history of the _Penny_ family, or rather
of the periodical outcrop in it of a certain strain that produces
_Pennys_ dark of countenance and incalculable of conduct. This
recurrence is shown in three examples: the first, _Howart Penny_,
in the days when men wore powder and the _Penny_ forge had just
been started in what was then a British colony; the next, _Jasper_,
involved in a murder trial in the sixties; and; last of the black
_Pennys_, another _Howart_, in whom the family energy has thinned
to a dilettante appreciation of the arts, dying alone amongst
his collections. You can see from this outline that the book is
incidentally liable to confound the skipper, who may find himself
confronted with (apparently) the same character tying a periwig on one
page and hiring a taxi on another. I am mistaken though if you will
feel inclined to skip a single page of a novel at once so original
and well-told. As a detail of criticism I had the feeling that the
"blackness" of the _Penny_ exceptions would have shown up better had
we seen more of the family in its ordinary rule; but of the power
behind Mr. HERGESHEIMER'S work there can be no question. He is, I am
sure, an artist upon a quite unusual scale, from whom great things may
be anticipated.

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If neither book of short stories before me is what Americans call "the
goods," I can, at any rate, say that _Ancient Mariners_ (MILLS AND
BOON) does infinite credit to Mr. MORLEY ROBERTS'S imagination. These
yarns of seafaring men are salt with the savour of the sea and with
the language thereof. Of the seven my favourite is "Potter's Plan,"
which not only contains the qualities to be found in the other
half-dozen, but also has an ingenuity all its own. But perhaps you
will prefer "A Bay Dog-Watch," as coming home to the general bosom,
for it deals with a ferocious hunt after matches which recalls the
deadly days of the shortage. Of the five stories in Mr. WARWICK
DEEPING'S _Countess Glika_ (CASSELL) the best is "Bitter Silence."
Here the author deals with essentials, and gives us a tale entirely
free from artificiality. The remaining stories are marred by their
lack of naturalness; but Mr. DEEPING is never at a loss for incident,
and he can write dialogue which is often gay and sometimes witty.

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