A Son of Ishmael. By L. T. Meade. (F. V.
White and Col- Mrs. Meade is developing a quite extraordinary power of pro- ducing novels dealing with the enterprises and detection of scoundrels. Her new story deserves to be placed on the same shelf as "The House on the Marsh ; " and Adrian Rowton, country gentleman and nominal head of the" Silver School" of Burglars, is quite on an equality with Jim the Penman, and the heroic gambler whose death gives the distinction of genuine tragedy to "Night and Morning." Adrian Rowton has, of course, the heart of a gentleman, and when he marries pretty Nancy, the daughter of the mysterious and vindictive Dr. Follett, he not only does his best to conceal from her the illegal mode of life in which he is engaged, but to cut himself adrift from it. His design is, how- ever, detected and frustrated by "Long John," the true head of the gang, who poisons him. Meanwhile, inspired by the injunction of her dying father, Nancy has employed a detective to trace the murderer of her brother. The detective ultimately identifies this criminal with her husband. Here, however, he is in error. It is not Rowton, but a member of the gang who has personated him, that has murdered young Follett. The story is wildly improbable, but it is full of plots and counterplots, and it is written with much spirit. All the characters, including a servant-girl who is mixed up with the designs of the "Silver School," are well drawn. The place of a " nephew " of Rowton in the story is not quite clearly explained.
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