4 JULY 1903, Page 24

His Eligible Grace the Duke. By Arabella Kenealy. (Digby, Long,

and Co. 6s.)—Miss Kenealy has some pretty stories in this collection, the story which gives its name to the book being by no means the best of them. "Mr. l'ounsett's Romantic Nature" is perhaps the most pleasantly original, though no one will deny the adjective " powerful " to the story called "Hobby's 'Mite." It, is, however, so painful that tender-hearted readers will do well to be warned in time and not distress themselves by reading it. There is nothing specially striking in the remaining stories, though they are most of them gracefully written, and they will give their readers just the amount of gentle entertainment which is pleasant on a hot afternoon in July.