The Abbess of Trlaye. By Stanley Weyman. (Longmans and Co.
Cs.)—There is no lack either of romantic atmosphere or exciting adventure in Mr. Stanley Weyman's new novel. Artistically speaking, the first few chapters are the best part of the book. In -them is described in the most vivid manner the château of Villeneuve, which is almost in ruins as the result of the troubles which devastated France at the end of the sixteenth century. The story rings more truly in the pages which tell of the life lived by the Vicomte de Villeneuve and his two children in his deserted château than when, later on, adventure follows adventure in the most rapid succession. It is impossible here to describe a tithe of the events which occur in the course of the book, but the reader will find himself hurried on from crisis to crisis, and, only for the promising thickness of the volume before him, he would many times imagine that the last hour of all the characters must surely have sounded. The Abbess of Vlaye her- self is perhaps too sinister a figure ; and even in those most irregular days, it is rather a shock to find an Abbess calmly marry- ing the man she loves while the fact of her vows apparently escapes her memory. The book has much force and "go." and is well up to, if not above, the high level of Mr. Weyman's usual work.
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