PROGRESS OF TWO. By John Kitching. (Constable. 7s. 6d.)—The two
whose progress we are allowed to follow are Hugo Wayne, an engineer in Brazil, and Mavis Buckleigh, who comes to that country as the mistress of John Lopez, having made what she describes as " a purely business arrange- ment" with him. The two had met before in England and had talked cynically about love, which they agreed was a "high-sounding hypocrisy." Neither Hugo nor Mavis are so interesting or so easy to know as any of the minor characters with which the book is crowded, and it is difficult to feel sympathy towards either the vagueness of Hugo or the deter- mination of Mavis. The story has all the ingredients of a thriller : there is a murder, there is an accident that ruins a conscientious engineer, there is a quixotic engagement of the hero to a girl he does not love, and there is a happy ending ; yet somehow the thrills do not thrill.
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