6 OCTOBER 1894, Page 26

Hoist with Her Own Petard. By Reginald Lucas. 3 vols.

(Hurst and Blackett.)—The lady who is " hoist " is, as may easily be guessed, an adventuress. She has schemes for marrying a baronet, keeping the baronet's brother for second string. This is a sort of thing that we are familiar with ; Miss Mirabel we seem to have met before. But the real heroine is a widow, Mrs. Dasent, and the hero, her young lover, the baronet's son. The usual com- plications follow. It is doubtful whether the widow is a widow ; the hero is not as constant as he should be. Yet, on the whole, the story is quite readable, to say the least ; it is distinctly well written, the dialogue is brisk, and the characters are alive.