10 JUNE 1893, Page 25

Rachel and Maurice, and other Tales. By the Hon. Margaret

Collier. (Chapman and Hall.)—" Rachel and Maurice " is a tragical story. So, indeed, in a greater or less degree, are the other tales. "An Excursion in the Apennines" beguiles us with the promise of something very pleasant, and then plunges us into the depths of dolefulness. "Our Foreign Friend" is not quite so sensational, but it ends as badly as the author could make it. It will be seen that these stories are in the height of the fashion, which just now is all for unhappy endings. They are well written, and so one goes on reading under compulsion, as it were. But why not some touch of cheerfulness P