20 FEBRUARY 1897, Page 21

Out of the Workhouse. By Mrs. Herbert Martin. (Bentley and

Son.)—This is a good story. The rugged old peasant, Peter Lucas, is a peculiarly well-drawn figure. An ignorant old man, with the narrowest views of life, but hard-headed and crafty, and not without a heart, he is undoubtedly real. Matthew Lucas and

his wife are, perhaps, too darkly coloured, if not for nature, certainly for art. Bell is another good study. But Mrs. Martin should have taken the trouble to ascertain common facts about the law of inheritance. If old Peter had died without a will—and Matthew bribes the lawyer to bring this about—his property, which was certainly not realty, would have been divided between his son Matthew, and Bell, as the representative of his deceased daughter Lucy.