22 FEBRUARY 1902, Page 25

The Little Saint of God. By Lady Fairlie Cuninghame. (Hurst

and Blackett. Gs.)—The Little Saint of God is a story— almost entirely true to facts—of characters and incidents of the days of the Red Terror. The heroine—bearing the title that is also the title of the book—is Therese de Moellien, a heroic girl who was the heart and soul cf the famous resistance made by the Chouans to the Republican party. Her lover is the Marquis de la Rouerie, leader of the Chouans. Therese and her cousin, Helene de Fonchais, another very noble lady, are victims of the guillotine. A butterfly sister of Helene, Yvonne de Virolais, escapes. And the only note that rings false to the realities of human nature seems to UB the adoration of all the family—women as well as men—for Yvonne. That Helene died gladly for her sister we believe. But surely the pretence that, in the intimacy of everyday life, it is possible for a woman like Helene not to feel contempt for one like Yvonne is a conven- tional fiction that might profitably be discarded. The story is full of interest, and the historical importance of the events and scenes carries one over its longueurs.