The (key Knight. By Mrs. Henry de la Pasture. (Smith,
Elder, and Co. 6s.)—Mrs. de la Pasture does well to call her new book an autumn love story, for it is concerned with characters who, even in this age of the romance of the middle-aged, may beyond question be termed elderly. This applies particularly to the hero of the novel, the heroine being very much younger. The most attractive parts in the story are the descriptions of the Welsh country in which most of the action passes, and of the fine old Norman castle which is the property of Sir Harry Gwynne, the elderly hero before mentioned. The romance of the old man who falls in love with his sick nurse does not sound a very attractive theme for a novel, but as treated by Mrs. de in Pasture it makes exceedingly pretty reading. Whether Louise would have burned the letter of forgiveness to Sir Harry's daughter because she was extremely angry with Sir Harry's most provoking sister may be doubted. We presume that the author thought it absolutely essential not to bring about a happy ending to her novel without causing the inevitable misunderstanding between the two principal personages. The figure of Dr. Morgan, the eminent retired physician, is a little conventional. The novel- reader has often met the shrewd, worldly-wise, kind-hearted doctor before. Indeed, when an eminent doctor is introduced into a story he is almost always drawn on these lines, and it is perhaps no small tribute to the medical profession that so kindly, and at the same time so wise, a figure should stand with the public as the essential type of the physician. The sketches of the ordinary persons in the book are drawn with Mrs. de la Pasture's accustomed skill, and the whole volume is eminently readable.
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