with interest to the fntnre works of the author. But
the faults of the book are grave, and we are, perhaps, more disappointed by it than we should be if it was far weaker. Mr. Speight does some things so well that we are inclined to place him on a high level. But then he so
seldom reaches the level, that we always look on him as falling short of what he can attain, and this is the same as a confession of failure.
If Margaret is the heroine, we cannot feel that our interest centres in her. In some respects the blind girl, Charlotte Herne, is the chief character, but she is alternately a subtle creation and a grotesque im- possibility. Much the same unevenness prevails in the story. At one time the incidents are striking and the plot is skilfully constructed. But the next moment we are at the mercy of blind chance, and events are thrown in without any consistent probability merely to carry on the action. Thus, when we expect something good, we are brought into the region of what is trivial, and after we have praised the skill of con- struction by which Mr. Speight leads up to something important, the whole is spoiled by the weakness of the denouement. We think he will learn to avoid this error.
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