5 MARCH 1864, Page 21

Keeping Afloat. A novel. (C. J. Skeet.)—Lord Hawkseurl entraps Gerard

Arkley, the son of a man worth millions, into a marriage with his sister, Lady Bertha. Soon after old Arkley dies, and the only property found is 200,000/. and a landed estate. The son is soon reduced to beg- gary by his wife and her brother, whereupon Lady Bertha elopes with an accomplice of Lord Hawkscurl. Suddenly it is discovered that old Arkley is still alive, that the dead man is an old clerk who was just like him, and that he was poisoned by mistake by Lord Hawkscurl. The Lord and his sister die miserably in Paris. Old Arkley's object in con- cealing himself was to open his son's eyes to the character of his wife, to effect which he sacrifices 200,000L But no mere outline can give any idea of a work in which every fresh incident seems more incredible than the last. It has, however, one great merit—there is but one volume.