21 MAY 1870, Page 19

The Story of Mademoiselle cl'Estanville. By the Hon. Mrs. Henry

W. Chetwynd. 2 vols. (Chapman and Hall.)—." Mademoiselle d'Estan- villa " is the daughter of a noble French Inoue, reduced by the extrava- gance of D'Estanville pare to a pinching poverty, which the widowed mother and her faithful Jacqueline make as seemly and even as stately as possible. The characters are drawn, for the most part, both delicately and firmly. "Madame," gentle and patient, but capable of being roused by wrong ; "Mademoiselle," who seems to grow with a fine naturalness

before our eyes into a certain womanly strength and decision, are both admirable ; so are various other female characters, of more or less social

importance, to -whom we are introduced. Anne Hall, the termagant, is less successful, but she was wanted to obstruct the too smooth current of love. And the men, the selfish dandy, Count Belleville, the villanous M. Maitre, and the young English hero, are all somewhat conventional. The story is a good one, and we may say, though we do not like to prejudice an author by revealing the plot, that our readers need not be terrified by sinister hints as to what is to come. For ourselves, we would never willingly read a novel with a distressing end, unless it were written with most superlative skill. Readers of Mademoiselle d'Estanville will have their fears, but may temper them with hopes. We had almost forgotten to give to the portraiture of faithful Jacqueline, brave dissembler of the poverty of the house which she loves, the special praise which its vigour and reality deserves. Her conversation with Lisette, ex-assistant in the kitchen, who has found a more comfortable service in a rich English family, is specially good. "Rich ?" she says, "Madame is as rioh,—oh, very rich ! with diamonds here, in the bank at Paris; jewels that a princess would covet. I repeat, Madame is very rich."— " If I were rich," said Lisette, "I should spend more of my money, and have very good dinners."—" The girl is already depraved by her English companions," exclaimed Jacqueline, angrily. "Madame, being so highly born, does not care for show, and even the small dinners I prepare she scarcely touches at times."—" Not being highly born, I like a good dinner, and my appetite is excellent," said Lisette, quaintly.