Margaret and Elizabeth. By Katherine Saunders. (Henry S. King and
Co.)—If this tale pleases us less than others which we have seen from Miss Saunders's pen, it is the subject rather than the execution which is in fault. Surprising, not to say sensational, incidents seem rather out of place when we are enjoying the very subtle and skilful drawing of char- acter which Miss Saunders knows how to give us. Nothing could be more gracefully and pathetically described than the love which grows up between the two heroines of the story, nor anything more skilful than the consistency with which the characteristic differences of each in manner and temper are preserved throughout. The more one appre- ciates this, the more one is inclined to resent the improbable incidents of Hector's career—Hector, it must be understood, is Margaret's husband —the most glaring of which is the strange series of mishaps and mis- takes which separates husband and wife. Let critics of inferior skill have recourse to such coarse colour for their effects; they do but spoil the delicate and tender outline which our author's pen knows so well how to draw. They "spoil" them, we say, yet nevertheless Margaret and Elizabeth is a novel which no one should think it a waste of time to read. Let it be noted by the busy that it is in one volume.
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