Joe Ford, by Sydney Newton (T. Fisher Unwin), is a
clever story of a rather gruesome practical joke which is also a psycho- logical experiment. Sir James Keith, a millionaire, has brought up Christine and Leslie Dalton, the children of a penniless Australian cousin, in the belief that they are to be the heirs of his wealth. But when the girl is eighteeen and the young man twenty-three, he starts off to South America to explore ruins there. Then he allows a story to reach them that he is dead, and along with that a letter containing a declaration that he has been married, and that his true heir is Joe Ford, a boy who works in his garden. The enraged Leslie resolves to disregard this dis- covery, and persuades his sister to join in the conspiracy. But their consciences compel them to give Joe a good education, and to refrain from destroying the documents which prove his posi- tion. As a result, Joe becomes a great dramatist and marries Christine. The millionaire, of course, turns up ; and then there are confessions all round, including one from him to the effect that the documents are bogus. All ends well and reads well. Yet Sir James's trick is not one to be admired or imitated.
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