A Navvy from King's. By Theodora Wilson Wilson. (Cassell and
Co. 6s.)—Dare Musgrave, having wasted his time at Cambridge, except, indeed, that he bowled three of the Oxford eleven in two overs, finds himself in a quandary, all the more perplexing because he has fallen in love. "As to your earning a full week's wage, it's not in you, Dare Musgrave," cries an indignant aunt. How he proceeds to show this judgment to be unjust is Miss Wilson's subject, and she treats it admirably. The long arm of coincidence helps, but not in a way which moves the dislike that comes of disbelief. Cicely Holden has an uncle in Westmorland who has always looked at life from the standpoint exactly opposite to that of Dare Musgrave. It is with him that she finds a home, and here her lover—of whom, it should be said, she knows nothing—seizes the opportunity of showing what he is made of. A Navvy from King's is a thoroughly wholesome story, its scenes set in real places, and filled with real people. Mrs. North, with whom the "navvy" lodges, and Phaddy, Dare's religious comrade, are particularly good studies. Even better is the hard- headed Robert Sandal. Of all difficult things that a novelist has to do, the picturing of change worked in a strong man's mind" is the most difficult. Such changes are very rare, and we narrowly criticise all descriptions of them. This is the finest part of an excellent story.
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