17 NOVEMBER 1888, Page 39

is entrusted to a man's care, but bad times come,

and he is tempted to prop his failing fortunes with the trust-money; of course, he is ruined or nearly so, his domestic affairs being complicated by his jealous daughter, who, having got hold of the wrong end of the stick, turns the ward out of doors. It can hardly be called an exciting tale; very little dramatic power is shown, and the characters have no vitality or distinctness. The story, spread over four hundred pages, drags heavily till the end, when even an attempted murder fails to quicken our interest.