Love Lost, but Honour Won. By Theodore Russell Monro. 3
vols. (Samuel Tinsley.)—There is some power in this story,—the nemesis which waits on wrong-doing follows and overtakes a prosperous man, one whose stern will and haughty temper make his overthrow more signal. The situation, indeed, is not new. The collision of interests between the children whose rights the law recognises and those whose existence it ignores, as it is a too familiar experience, has been a frequent subject of fiction. Mr. Monro conceives it well, and describes it with force. Painful as it naturally is, he contrives with no little skill that it should give no offence. It is not exactly an easy situation when a man, his legitimate son, and his illegitimate son are all in love with one woman, and the author must be allowed no little credit for contriving that it should not be exceed- ingly repulsive. The characters in the book are drawn with more than common precision ; Anne Brassingham, though not the most attractive, is perhaps the best. An interesting episode, told with vigour, but without any exaggeration, is Agatha Bonchurch's effort to reclaim Loftus Tempest. If few women have the courage and sagacity for such work, yet all may learn something by reading it. It is at least a lesson of forbearance and charity.
Previous page
