erhaps in consequence) heroines of such super-sentimentality as
_Daidie Grattan_ have no terrors for them. Personally I found her and her
exploits on burning ships, besieged mills and the like a trifle sticky. For
the rest you have some interesting details of the workings of the paper
industry; a style that to the unfamiliar eye is at times startling (as
when, on page 282, the hero's head "snapped erect"); and lots and lots of
love. As for the ending, to relieve any apprehensions on your part, let me
quote it. "Taking her swiftly in his arms, he questioned: 'Has the gold
come free from the fire at last, my darling?' 'Gold or dross,' she
whispered as she yielded, 'it is your own.'" _Ah!_

* * * * *

_Love's Triumph_ (METHUEN) is concerned to a great extent with the
development of a raw Kentucky lad into an attractive and resourceful man;
but its chief interest lies rather with his trainer. When _Victor
McCalloway_ arrived in Kentucky and took _Boone Wellver_ under his wing it
became obvious enough that he was bent on reconstructing his own life as
well as moulding _Boone's_. _McCalloway_, when the seal of his past is
broken, turns out to be _Sir Hector Dinwiddie, D.S.O., K.C.B._, a
tradesman's son who was generally believed to have killed himself in Paris.
I must assume that Mr. CHARLES NEVILLE BUCK intended us to recognise in
_Sir Hector_ a certain General whose name acquired a painful notoriety not
so long ago. The reader may form what opinion he likes of the good taste of
all this, but there can be no question that the author has drawn a fine
character. At the outset his style is so jumpy that the story is difficult
to follow, but presently its course grows clearer and I fancy that you will
follow it keenly, as I did, to the end.

* * * * *

[Illustration: WORRIES OF THE DARK AGES.

_Peaceful Knight_ (_who has called to ask his way at a strange castle_).
"OH, CONFOUND IT! I WISH I'D READ THE NOTICE BEFORE I BLEW THE HORN. I
DON'T FEEL A BIT LIKE FIGHTING GIANTS TO-DAY, AND BESIDES I PROMISED TO BE
HOME EARLY FOR DINNER."]

* * * * *

STRENUOUS LIFE IN THE WEST.

"At a charity concert at Clifton recently nearly 200 glass tumblers
disappeared in the course of a week."--_Daily Paper._

Very deplorable, of course. Still, towards the end of the sixth consecutive
day would the audience be fully responsible?