THE SENTIMENTALISTS. By Dale Collins. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.)—This story is
the best kind of farce, because beneath its riotous and delightful absurdity there is a substratum of true characterization. The scene opens in a harbour of the Dutch New Guinea coast, where Captain Whelan, the fat master of the trading brig Hirondelle,' is attempting unsuccessfully to enjoy his fiftieth birthday, having for company only his morose and abstracted mate. Fortune, however, favours Whelan. An abandoned baby, thrown into the water, is rescued by him, and a few day later, going ashore, he meets a young adventuress, Tina Murray. Tina, dissatisfied with a career of sponging on various rich men, is induced to go aboard the Hirondelle ' as nurse to the child, and ends, of course, by marrying the Captain. But, before that happy event, there is a series of rollickingly funny adventures, and a good minor plot keeps the excitement well agog.
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