*

Mr. WILKINSON SHERREN, in his new novel, _The Marriage Tie_ (GRANT
RICHARDS), is very serious about the hypocrisies of the virtuous and the
injustice of our moral conventions. Other writers before him have been
serious about these things, and I do not know that Mr. SHERREN has
anything very new to say. I must also confess to thinking that a sense
of humour would have assisted him greatly in his task. Nevertheless his
readers are certain to sympathise with his beautiful heroine in her
dismay at her unfortunate illegitimacy, and she is a good girl with a
great regard for the feelings of all her friends, even though she
expresses this regard a little stiffly. Mr. SHERREN uses his background
well, and many of his scenes would be effective if only his characters
were debarred from dialogue. It would be, I am sure, beyond _Johanna's_
powers, were she limited to the deaf and dumb alphabet, to convey such a
speech as this: "I wish you to consent to your father's suggestions,
dear. By doing so you do not injure me, and you cheer his declining
days. I am sure your dear mother wishes it." Her methods would become
something much brusquer and more direct. I doubt if Mr. SHERREN is at
his best in a novel. An essay on the confused issues of illegitimacy and
the punishment of the children for the sins of their fathers would show
him, I am convinced, at his ease; but dialogue and a beautiful heroine
are an embarrassment to him.

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In a volume of tales and sketches entitled _The Mercy of the Lord_
(HEINEMANN) Mrs. FLORA ANNIE STEEL revives pleasant memories of her
Indian romances once beloved by me. In these new stories everybody
dies--if Europeans, with the latest slang upon their lips; if natives,
with a lusty invocation to Allah. Mrs. STEEL does not believe in letting
the reader know what she is about, and there is generally something up
her sleeve. Each story has its own little puzzle, and, if the puzzles
are not always solved by the end of the tale, one can make all kinds of
pleasant conjectures as to what really did happen, and Mrs. STEEL'S
mysterious hints and shrugs and fingers on the lip do beyond question
assist her atmosphere. I like best of the stories "Salt of the Earth," a
most moving tale, beautifully told. Always Mrs. STEEL is interesting,
and I hope these sketches are only little preludes to another of her
thrilling romances.

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If