HARLES ----

This week, DRIVEN FROM HOME. Next week, AT SEA."

_Daily Paper._

Surely this pitiable case ought to be brought to the attention of the
Actors' Benevolent Association.

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Epicurean._ "AH, YOU LITTLE REALISE HOW
THESE APRIL SHOWERS BRING ON THE PEAS."]

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)

I HAVE a mild grievance against that talented lady, Miss MARJORIE BOWEN,
for labelling her latest novel "a romantic fantasy." Because, like all
her other stories, _The Cheats_ (COLLINS) moves with such an air of
truth, its personages are so human, that I could delightfully persuade
myself that it was all true, and that I had really shared, with a
sometimes quickened pulse, the strange fortunes of the sombre young
hero. But--fantasy! That is to show the strings and give away the whole
game. However, if you can forget that, the coils of an admirably woven
intrigue will grip your attention and sympathy throughout. The central
figure is one _Jaques_, who comes to town as a penniless and love-lorn
romantic, to be confronted with the revelation that he is himself the
eldest son, unacknowledged but legitimate, of His Majesty KING CHARLES
THE SECOND, then holding Court at Whitehall. It is from the plots and
counter-plots, the machinations and subterfuges that follow that Miss
BOWEN justifies her title. Certainly _The Cheats_ establishes her in my
mind as our first writer of historical fiction. The character-drawing is
admirable (especially of poor weak-willed vacillating _Jaques_, a
wonderfully observed study of the STUART temperament). More than ever,
also, Miss BOWEN might here be said to write her descriptions with a
paint-brush; the whole tale goes by in a series of glowing pictures,
most richly coloured. _The Cheats_ is not a merry book; its treatment of
the foolish heroine in particular abates nothing of grim justice; but of
its art there can be no two opinions. I wish again that I had been
allowed to believe in it.

It must be unusual in war for a commander-in-chief to be regarded by his
opponents with the respect and admiration that the British forces in
East Africa felt towards VON LETTOW-VORBECK; from General SMUTS, who
congratulated him on his Order "Pour le Merite," down to the British
Tommy who promised to salute him "if ever 'e's copped." The fact that
VON LETTOW