Miss Walmeb urn's Offer. By Sarah Dondney. (Blackie and Son.)
—This is as successful a story as Miss Dondney has ever written, and perhaps its success is due to the fact that she has been compelled by the limited apace allowed to her, to condense to a greater extent than she is in the habit of doing. It is simple, and even commonplace in its plot. We have heard before of the course of true love being interrupted by a treacherous, golden-haired, Becky Sharpiah syren. But Lesbia, who plays this part in Miss Willowburn's Offer, is the
most cleverly sketched of this sisterhood that we have come across in recent fiction. She is, besides, original in a variety of ways,—in having a burglarious brother, in forging an offer of marriage to the good angel of the story, Miss Willowburn ; above all, in being not quite so had as she seems. Patience Willowburn is one of Miss Doudney'e beat creations, and is the one personality in the story which can be said to give it the character of a book not for young ladies, but for girls.
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