old materials of a marriage between a man who believes
himself to be a widower but is not, and a girl who does not even know he has ever had a wife, will surprise the hardened novel-reader who has encountered so many heroes in a difficulty of the above kind.
The author of Only a Singer has made a good and, so far as we can judge, an entirely new story out of the well-worn inci-
dents which have become a drudge 'twixt novelists and their readers, so frankly recognised that the charge of plagiarism does not lie as against the use of them. The " singer " of this novel is a captivating person ; that Diana Barry should fall in love with him at first hearing is no wonder ; and if Eugen's credulity about the documents which convince him that his wife is dead is a little excessive, it goes well with his general characteristics ; and Franz Berger, the villain of the story, is consistent enough for the most exacting observer of character. The plot is clever, and no doubt the melancholy close is both the truest and the best ending for such a story; still, the author makes us care sufficiently for Diana to feel depressed by her fate.
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