Brenda Yorke. By Mary Cecil Hay. 3 vole. (Hurst and
Blackett.)^ —The heroine Is loved by and loves a man of station superior to her own. As he is a very honourable man, and quite willing and able to
overrule all opposition on the part of family and friends, while she is quite fit to be advanced in the social scale, the reader does not perceive why the course of love should not run smooth, or if that cannot be allowed by the exigencies of the novelist's art, should not have, at all events, a fair ending. But Mrs. Hay does not, it would seem, approve of such a result. Brenda Yorko is exceptionally happy in having another very admirable lover. He belongs to her own class, and the only difficulty is that she does not love him. We cannot say much in praise of the machinery of incident by which Mrs. Hay contrives that the suitable pair should be brought together. Brenda has a half-witted brother who shoots, but does not materially injure, a certain French girl, who has a great faculty for making herself disagreeable. He is to be tried for it, but is let out, as far as we can understand, on bail,—not very likely, as the charge was for attempting to murder. The bail is broken, and Brenda and her brother sail to Australia, with the suitable lover to take care of them, while the rich lover stays behind and marries a suitable young lady. Everybody seems to be happy. Still we must protest that the means employed are not entirely legitimate. Brenda Yorke occupies the greater part of the three volumes; the remainder is taken up with some shorter tales. .
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