10 JULY 1897, Page 25

Of the Deepest Dye. By Colonel Cuthbert Larking. (Hurst and

Blackett.)—Some familiar "properties" of the tale-writer, never very valuable, and now somewhat worn by use, are employed by Colonel Larking in the construction of his story. We must own that we have not been able to take any interest in his characters, in what they do, or what they suffer. They might Lave all disappeared without the world being one whit the poorer. The writer does not often venture into regions of ethics or religion, but he commits himself to the statement that we know how to spend Sunday much better than our fathers did. The improvement is that a few hundreds of the monde and the .demi-monde get a day of enjoyment at the cost of the weekly rest of thousands.