CURRENT LITERATURE.
G IFT-BO OKS.
The Heiress of Courtleroy. By Anne Beale. (Blackie and Son.) —We know pretty well what to expect from our authoress by this time,—a long but interesting story, with one or two characters carefully studied and developed, and a number of minor figures, all of them good. Indeed, Miss Beale seems never happy unless she has at least two dozen characters moving about. In Le Roy
* The American Claimant. By Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens). London : Cbatto and Winans.
we have perhaps the most striking and original creation that Miss Beale has made. We say creation advisedly, because it requires an open mind to accept a man so hopelessly blind to his own in-
terest and so self-centred. Nevertheless, he interests us to the
last, and claims more attention than the heiress, who yet is by no means a commonplace character. The Heiress of Courtleroy is a readable though a long story, and there is too much care bestowed upon it for the reader to be tempted to skip a page. Some of the
scenes are dramatic, and Miss Beale, always worth listening to, is at home wherever she makes her characters act.
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