5 NOVEMBER 1898, Page 28

Belle. By the Author of " Laddie." (W. and R.

Chambers.)— Belle has two lovers, both of them dating from very early days ; one of them very pleasant, but not quite straightforward; the other as honest as the day, but soured by trouble and most un- comfortably surly. It would lessen the interest of the story to say more—nor is more needed—than that Belle is not un- worthy of the author's earlier work, among which we may mention " Miss Toney's Mission." We may ask, however, Is a man justi- fied in absconding on his wedding-day because he finds that his bride has become unexpectedly rich ?