31 OCTOBER 1903, Page 23

The Enthusiast. By Adeline Sergeant. (Methuen and Co. Cs.) —Miss

Sergeant's hero cannot quite make up his mind whether to be loyal to his fiancée, who shows him pretty plainly that sha prefers being the Principal of a Ladies' College to being his wife, or to yield to the attractions of a charming hoyden whom he met on his summer holiday some years before, and who through her ignorance of the conventions got herself into a compromising position by coming to his rooms and imploring his aid. Miss Sergeant is, however, too kind-hearted to sadden her readers, and

in the end the hoyden carries the day, while the other lady, the "" enthusiast" of the title, finds ample consolation in her College.