CURRENT LITERATURE•
The Justification of Andrew Lebrun. By Frank Barrett. (W. Heinemann.) —Mr. Barrett has either borrowed or happened upon by chance the motive of M. Edmond About's tale of "L'Homme
l'oreille casaGe." In that curious story a soldier of the First Empire, frozen to death, as it was thought, at the siege of some German city, but mysteriously preserved, is restored to animation. The man has the 'habits and ways of a lawless time, and brings the greatest confusion into the orderly and decent society to which he is introduced. In Mr. Barrett's story, Andrew Lebrun, becoming possessed of the secret of suspending and restoring life, brings back into the world a young reprobate who has been subjected to a process something like thttt which .About's hero underwent. The similarity of idea is striking, but there is much difference of treatment between the two stories. M. About has a light touch, and handles his curious theme in the half-serious way which befits it. Mr. Barrett's tragedy is very much in earnest. Still, the tale is well told, and a reader who begins it will hardly leave it unfinished.
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