The Absurd Repentance. By St. John Lucas. (E. Arnold. 6s.)
—Mr. Lucas mingles in this story genteel comedy and farce, and mingles them with very considerable success. The title, which is the name of a novel written by the hero and the cause of much trouble to him, belongs to the farcical part, and so, we cannot but think, does the whole wooing of Alys. Here we are inclined to see the chief fault of the story. Imagine a play in which the love affairs ef one sister form the main, and those of the other the under, plot ! But Mr. Lucas is often irresistibly funny, as, for instance, with his impressionist artist, now adding to his picture "a lake, a bed of bulrushes, and five thirsty cows with three strokes of his brush," now painting "a sky from which the in- habitants of the earth would have fled in terror to the caves." On the other hand, he shows that he can use on occasion a delicate wit and grace of style. The Absurd Repentance is very good reading.
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