The Heart of a Child. By Frank Denby. (Hutchinson and
Co.. 6s.)—" Frank Denby" has made an advance, as striking an advance as we remember to have seen in this province of litera- ture, on her earlier work. "Sally Snape," who rises in the course- of this -story from being a "gutter girl" to be Lady Kidder- minster, is one of the characters of fiction whom we do not forget. She is a Una, not at all a romantic Una, but one of absolutely real life, -who walks unsmirched in very miry ways. An East End slum, a music-hall, a very shady corner of society, are the places- which she passes through unharmed, thanks to her strong virginal instinct. She hated to be touehed,—that was her simple philosophy,. and it served her well. It is not a book to read with a light heart; one cannot help remembering the others, who are good enough, and who would be safe enough had they the common defences which social conventions supply. And it is not, we need hardly say, for every one. But it is a fine bit of work. The one scene which we shonld like to see away is in chap. 21. It would not be- just to omit all notice of an admirable character of the second rank, Ursula Hugely, who acts more than once as Sally's good. angel.
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