The Owl's Nest in the City. By Edward Level. (Henry
S. King and Co.)—The writer, who adopts as a nom de plume the name of one of the characters of his story, certainly has constructed a tragedy which would have commended itself to those old playwrights who delighted in terri- ble effects. There is a wicked uncle, who contrives schemes of the most elaborate and stupendous wickedness, in order to possess himself of the estates to which he conceives himself to be entitled. A brother falls in love with a girl who turns out to be his half-sister, is on the point of fighting a duel with a young man who elopes with her, and who turns out to be his half-brother ; and finally, not being able to fight, commits suicide. Happily we are spared the horror, though not the suggestion, of the runaways also being related. We frankly confess to having a profound dislike to horrors of this kind, and we regret that the writer, who shows considerable ability, should have had recourse to them. The junior characters of the young officer, St. John, and of the steady, persevering James, whose end is quite pathetically told, are distinctly good.
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