The Cage. By Harold Begbie. (Hodder and. Stoughton. 6s.)— Mr.
Untold 13egbio approaches his subject, which is that of marring°, on the lines which have been very frequently advocated in these columns. Ho regards crimes against marriage as crimes against society, and although his heroine has every excuse for severing the legal tie which binds her to her husband, Mr. Bogbie allows her to be convinced, and at the same time convinces the reader, that she is quite right in resuming her relations with him. It may be objected by certain people that a novel should not be treated as a sermon, but arguments for self-indulgence are so frequently set forth at length for the benefit of novel-readers that it is a good thing for once to find the arguments for the performance of duty expounded as fully and as forcibly. A mistake of the book is that the mysterious parentage of the hero, who is known by the name of Hugh Napier, is too much insisted on, for it has no particular bearing on the story itself. The picture of the heroine's life at Borhaven with her delightful grandmother is charmingly drawn, but it is difficult to imagine how so engaging an old woman as Mrs. Dobson could Possibly have had a daughter like Mrs. Ainslie. The story is interesting and remarkable in this age for the plainness with which it puts before its readers old-fashioned principles of sound
morality.
Previous page
