1 OCTOBER 1898, Page 24

A Daughter of Strife. By Jane H. Findlater. (Methuen and

.Co.)—The plot of A Daughter of Strife is not a pleasant one. The hero, an army surgeon, sends a message by his friend to the girl he loves, the trust is betrayed, and the false friend eventually marries the woman, who has been told that the surgeon has married some one else. The marriage is a bogus one, and the day of reckoning soon comes, when the poor woman dies. The villain is of a sanctimonious disposition and prays .before his villainy that he may be suitably punished. The latter portion of the story relates how the surgeon's daughter, by his marriage with another woman, comes to be loved by the villain's bastard son. The surgeon, Meadowes 'the villain, and Anne Champion are all good characters, drawn with incisive strokes, and the remorse of Meadowes for his treachery is strongly pictured for us. A Daughter of Strife is Indeed well written, with strong scenes, and without a slovenly phrase or sentence throughout.