The Gentleman - Digger. By Anna, Comtesse de Bremont. (Sampson Low and
Co.)—We can single out no particular part of this " Study of Johannesburg Life " for blame, and the narration is continuous and sometimes spirited, but having reached the end, the reader will find, as regards the story, that his mind is a blank. The characters are sufficiently true to life to be interesting, but they retain no hold on the memory when they are out of sight. The writer should remember that if commonplace characters are to live, they must be photographed, or they must be treated so as to bring out some singularity or force. If the Comtesse de Bremont had done this, The Gentleman- Digger might have been a success, for she knows how to describe people and places, and there is local colouring. There is the hideous Americanism, " at that," which is enough to ruin any story.
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