Seven Maids. By L. T. Meade. (W. and R. Chambers.
6s.)— For a change we are not sorry to have a tale with no love-making in it. Mr. and Mrs. Hilliard, having lost money, determine to take girls to educate with their own daughter, and she, dispos- sessed of her solitary dignity as daughter of the house, does not like it at all. Then there is another money compli,.ation, which does not, in our judgment, improve the story. It is extremely improbable that Marjorie Hilliard should take her brother's money to pay the rent of her humble friend's father, or that she should have taken the way suggested to get out of her difficulties. The jealousy, properly worked out, would have made trouble enough. But then there had to be a hundred thousand words in the story.—Celia's Conquest, by L. E. Tiddeman (same pub- lishers, 2s. 6d.), is a story of much the same kind. Celia does not like the life in which she finds herself, makes herself very dis- agreeable, and then thinks better of it. The moral is excellent, and not too much obtruded.—The Wooing of Val. By Evelyn Everett-Green. (Hutchinson and Co. 3s. 6d.)—This is a very old-fashioned plot. The hated young man who has supplanted the heroine and her brother in an expected inheritance comes in disguise and wine her heart. The disguise is extravagantly improbable — imagine a whole household of people keeping such a secret !—but who cares ? The story is pleasant enough.—From the same author and publishers we have also The Fiery Chariot (2s. 6d.), a not very comprehensible title. A heartless but enchanting young woman finds both the strings of her bow break in her hands and everybody is glad. Voi/4 tout !—A Sister of the Red Cross. By L. T. Meade. (T. Nelson and Sons. 3s. 6d.)—It is to be hoped that the nursing in South African hospitals was not so complicated with sentiment as it seems to have been in the sphere of action occupied by Mollie Hepworth, her sister Kitty, and Katharine Hunt. We must frankly say that we do not care for this sort of story. That women are the best nurses certainly is beyond question; but it is better to say and write as little as possible about the particular diffi- culty that women have to nurse men. —Little Lady Prim. By E. M. Waterworth and Jennie Chappell. (Nimmo, Hay, and Mitchell, Edinburgh. ls.)—A slight story, but well told ; it might be described as an instance of the " open-air cure." A little girl is being killed by kindness, and has to be saved by force. Not a few mothers may well take note.—Cecily Frame. By Bessie Marchant. (Same publishers. 2s. 6d.)—A tale full of action and of incident, but a little too full of horrors for our taste. It is, perhaps, convenient to dispose of an inconvenient person by the agency of a crocodile. but we must own not to like such things in a book meant for very young readers.—.Lina's Fortune. By Emma Leslie. (Same publishers. ls.)—There are no horrors here ; it is a quiet story, gently suggesting an excellent moral.
Previous page
