29 JUNE 1929, Page 31

EILEEN OF THE TREES. By H. de Vere Stacpoole. (Cassell.

7s. 6d.)—A bare summary of the plot of this novel must inevitably render it injustice. Pat Spence is a boy of seventeen, who is heir to a fortune. His mother being dead and his father a semi-mad recluse, he leads a lonely life on the Compton estate and falls into many kinds of mischief. But a brief visit to his uncle, Lord Trevessa, in town serves to harness all his adventurous and chivalrous impulses to one end. While " doing " London, under the auspices of a delightfully described chauffeur, he encounters a beautiful nursery-maid, who is ill-treated by her employers. Pat determines to rescue her, and, after innumerable escapades and difficulties, fthapj succeeds in - betrothing her. A story

like this hovers precariously on the verge of bathos. But Mr. Stacpoole's skill never fails him ; and here, for readers 'whose nerves want gently lulling, is a quite pretty fairy-tale with a modern setting.