The Bents of Battersby. By M. B. Manwell, (Religious Tract
Society.)—This is an excellent story of a rather conventional kind. It tells of the fortunes of two brothers, the one prosperous, but with an ill-regulated household and ill-brought-up family; the other unfortunate, but happy in and with his daughters. Walter Bent, the well-to-do brother in the present case, becomes a scoundrel, and burns an aunt's will that happens to be in favour of his shiftless and unlucky brother Richard, who tries to make a living by his pen. He only confesses his crime when he is dying of small-pox, and when he is being tended by his angel-niece, Bettina. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the Richard Bents are made preposterously happy. Bettina is loved by a lord, and Olive secures happiness with a curate, while even the poor man of letters makes a hit with a book for boys. The interest in the plot of this story is thoroughly sustained from beginning to end, and all the characters, the unlovely as well as the good, are carefully portrayed.
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