The Old Pincushion, by Mrs. Molesworth (Macmillan and Co.), and
The Neighbours (same author and publisher), are both repub- lications from magazines. The two stories were intended for different classes of readers, and Mrs. Molesworth has shown the tact and skill of which she has given so many proofs in giving them just the difference that is suitable. The Old Pincushion is a story, romantic in its way, of the discovery of a will. Every one is grievously disappointed at a certain old lady, whose property should have gone to some very deserving people, dying intestate, —disappointed and also surprised, for she was not at all a person likely to leave so important a duty undone. Of course, everything is set right in the end ; but we cannot help sharing the surprise expressed by the lawyer, when at last the missing document turns up, that his sensible old friend should have given so much trouble. But, without this perversity of hers, where would Mrs. Molesworth's very pleasing story have been P—Neighbours (which has appeared in Atalanta) is a very pretty love-story, with a didactic tone which, without obtruding itself, gives just the touch of seriousness that a tale with such surroundings should have. There is a prim sister, whom the cares of a motherless family have helped to make a little suspicions and uncharitable; and a younger, whose true-love course, after not a few obstacles, at last runs smooth. The &newsagent, when the terrible Christmas snowstorm brings about, after much anxiety, an explanation which happily clears away all doubts and difficulties, is very well contrived.
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