15 OCTOBER 1898, Page 25

A Girl's Awakening. By J. H. Crawford. (J. Macqueen.)— Mr.

Crawford's landscapes we can understand ; his figures are somewhat dim and indistinct. We have plenty of ornamental phrases about Narcisse, but they leave us not much wiser about what she was and what she came to be. One cannot help wishing that she had had a big brother to "awake" in a different fashion the sentimental Alan, who has very much the look of a rascal for all his fine talk. But "all is well that ends well." And we must presume that the ending is well when we have for the last paragraph of Mr. Crawford's tale :—" But it was spring-time with Narcisse; and the cloud was a spring cloud, with luminous shadows and soft rain, which only washed her spirit pure and glad, and made it blossom the more."