Toby's Promise. By A. M. Hopkinson. (E. Arnold.)—As fak as
we can remember, the plot of Toby's Promise is a fresh ono. Toby, who is one of a family of four, is adopted by a soldier and his wife, who have lost their only son. Toby's ambition is to be a soldier, and Sir Thomas Fitzroy engages to give him the best possible military education, and treat him in every way as his son—though not, of course, as his heir—on the condition that he has no communication with his mother and never mentions her name in his new home. Lady Fitzroy's loss has had a most de- pressing effect on her, and she does not for a time take kindly to poor Toby. How Toby acquitted himself, and kept to whad iniist have been a great renunciation for a boy, we leave our readers to judge. Meadow-sweet, we may remind A. M. Hopkinson, is not generally seen in flower with cowslips. As a story, Toby's Premise is sure to touch a child's sympathy, though the idea, if kood, is not in ordinary practical politics.
Previous page
