In Spite of Fate. By Silas Hocking. (F. Warne and
Co.)— This is a good story of the romantic kind. A child is stolen by gipsies out of revenge, a revenge which is to be satisfied fully by a very elaborate plot. Then there is the succession to a property which seems likely to drift away from its lawful owners. And there is the unfailing interest of the young man who struggles against an adverse fate, or what seems to be such, and conquers in the end. The materials are not new, but they are well combined by Mr. Hocking, who seems to us to go on putting better and better work into his books. In this story there are some passages of more than average force ; the description of the Salvationists, the men who, as Mr. Hocking well puts it, "want to sow and reap in the same hour," is one of them. We would counsel Mr. Hocking to be a little more careful in matters of style. A gipsy is not likely to talk in this fashion : "The vendetta of a Banfylde may travel slow as a snail, but it is as sure as death." " Veracity " is another unlikely word which we find in a gipsy's mouth. "When he is serious, no parson can touch him for veracity." It is not wise to speak of the Conqueror as "that ruffian." His methods were not always gentle or just, but he was a great King for all that.
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