31 OCTOBER 1908, Page 24

The Elusive Pimpernel. By the Baroness Orczy. (Hutchinson . and

Co. 6s.)—If this continuation—the title at once recalls the Baroness Orczy's great success—is in any way a falling off, it is - because the reader is pretty sure how it is all going to end. But. he certainly cannot know how this end is to be brought about. Here the skill of the story-teller is as good as ever. The interest is wrought up to the very highest pitch. Nor is the tale a mere- succession of startling incidents, made to look natural, and very cleverly joined together. There is a dramatic interest of the- most genuine kind, a real trial, not of strength and courage only, but of the soul. One matter we cannot but mention, because it - surprises us in a writer who has studied the incidents and characters of the French Revolution. The first chapter ends with these words : "The Goddess of Reason. Robespierre, her - prophet'" Robespierre was, of course, present at the feast in- which the Demoiselle Candeille played the part of the Goddess, . but he did not like it. When he had his own way, it was the - Feast of the Etre Supreme that he celebrated. The late Professor Cassel, a very able man, used to declare that it was the theism of Robespierre which brought about his fall.