Two Ifs. By E. M. Abdy-Williams. (W. Swan Sonnenschein and
Co.)—This is a novel of a type now somewhat old-fashioned. In the first chapter a will and a set of diamonds are missing. In the next turns up the heir, who is for the present kept out of his inheritance ; but for whom, we feel sure, if there is any justice in the novelist's heaven, the will is to be found, and on whose fair bride the diamonds are to glitter. Chapter III., of course, introduces us to the bride. Then come in due order love unconscious, love conscious, love de- clared, separation, suspicion (on the part of the heroine), and, at last, vengeance on the bad and happiness for the good. The will is discovered by the roundabout process of burning down the house in which it is hidden. The heroine atones for her want of faith by nearly putting herself between the hero's head and the villain's pistol, and "there was a double wedding in Coombe church before the year was out," &c. It is a harmless novel, not unreadable ; in three volumes, indeed, but able to plead that the three volumes are of the very slenderest that ever publisher put forth.
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