2 APRIL 1898, Page 22

Bijou. By Gyp. Translated by A. Hallard. (Hutchinson: and Co.)—This

is of the type of story which a French novelist writes when she wishes to accommodate herself to the tastes of lea jeunes fills,. Bijou is a beauty of the first order ; every one falls in love with her; no one seems able to touch her heart. She is, it must be allowed, a designing coquette. Her horse throws her, and one of her numerous lovers finds her on the ground. She thanks him all the more "because," as she says," I know you do not like me." Of course he protests. "Shaking her head so that her hair came down, and fell over the young man's shoulder and against his face, she went on talking, laughing all the time, and still leaning against him for support." In the end she sends him off to fetch another lover, the eldest of the lot (he is fifty- nine). "As soon as he was out of sight, she lay down again in exactly the same position in which Bernes had found her." The elderly lover arrives. "After a while she murmured, as she laid her head confidingly against him, 'Ah! you are so nice to me ; and I am so happy like this ! I should like to stay here always." Naturally he proposes to her. She refuses him. But M. Bernes is betrothed to a friend of Bijou's, and the friend is naturally jealous. Bijou accordingly marries the elderly one. And that is " Gyp's " idea of a novel for les jeunes filles.