The Sheep Track. By N. H. Webster. (John Murray. 6s.)
—This is an interesting novel about modern London society. The heroine, who has the disadvantage of being the daughter of a scholar so profound that he cannot spare attention for the affairs of everyday life, lives with her father in a small house in Kensington. She thence makes social excursions, first into a decorous and very dull smart world to which she is introduced by some old friends, and later into an entertaining Bohemian circle, which, it must be said, is anything but decorous. Both author and heroine appear to think that these are the only t wo worlds which exis t in London, and are apparently quite unaware of the fact that there arc sets of people to be found who are neither dull nor immoral. The picture of a London dance given in the exclusive circle is exceedingly enter- taining, and might have been said to be true up to, at any rate, last season; but, as that faithful chronicler of manners, Punch, has already shown us, the ways of the dancing man since the introduction of what some people call the "new steps" are entirely altered. The book is most amusingly written, and Miss Webster has the acumen to point out that, in spite of its dull- ness, there are certain advantages in following "The Sheep Track," the name which she gives to smart conventional society.
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