1 OCTOBER 1898, Page 23

Lady Croome's Secret. By Marie Zimmermann. (W. H. Addison.)—Lady Croome's

secret is not revealed till the very last, nor indeed will any one guess who the person she meets in the park is. The secret estranges her husband, a widower twice as old as she is, from her, but does not otherwise figure prominently in the story. This is mostly concerned with the flight and wanderings of the much suspected lady with her child, and the very fierce passion of anger that holds the once gentle daughter of the Parzeran wood-merchant at the stigma cast upon her, and, finally, the touching and joyous reconciliation of all at Croome Court. The story is interesting, the characters of Sir Nicholas and his wife, both obstinate people, well drawn, only one person is killed, and this by being pushed downstairs, and all ends well.