Nigel Ferrard. By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds (Mills and Boon 6s.)—This
is a very clever story, the plot of which has for its principal motive the heroine's complete loss of memory following on a severe shock sustained in early youth. The opening scene of the novel, in which Gwennie (the heroine) is roused from a sleep-walking expedition to find herself looking on, apparently, at a murder through a skylight, is luridly melodramatic, and the book is perhaps a little flat after so sensational an opening. The figure of the hero, Nigel Ferrard, is very well drawn. As he is the heir to his patient's property and also the surgeon conduct- ing the operation which is supposed to kill the patient, but which is really quite successful, the reader will have no difficulty in sympathizing with his wish to keep the whole transaction quiet, but Nigel is no more successful in this than people who try to hide their real misdeeds, and in the end the murder, of which he is completely innocent, "will out." The account of Gwennie's life as a young lady in her guardian's house is amusingly written, and the whole book, though not so attractive as some of Mrs. Baillie Reynolds's work, is well worth the attention of the novel reader.
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