The Ragged Messenger. By W. B. Maxwell. (Grant Richards. 6s.)—Students
of heredity will be interested in this book by the mere fact that it is written by "Miss Braddon's" son. The idea which is at the back of the story—the effect on a man who has the qualities of a true Saver of Souls of inheriting a vast fortune —is good, but it is, not quite convincingly worked out. John Morton himself is not a living human being, and on the credibility of John Morton the whole story rests. Although there are parts of the novel which are really interesting and well executed, it is, as a whole, a little confused and unsatisfactory, and most readers will find it quite impossible to believe in the catastrophe at the end. The book is out of the run of ordinary novels, and must therefore be judged by a higher standard. This standard, unfortunately, it fails to reach.
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