21 FEBRUARY 1903, Page 24

The Tideway. By Austin Clare. (Chatto and Windus. 6s.)— I

very modern " note " is given to this story by the curtain rising on a prologue of which a battlefield on the veld is the scene. However, the story soon leaves South Africa, and concerns itself with the English country. The character of the heroine is well drawn, as also is that of the semi-adventurer whom she marries. Yet somehow it is rather difficult to take an interest in the doings of all these good people. The novel is, of course, quite original, and yet one seems to have read it a thousand times already.