Betty Vivian. By L. T. Meade. (W. and R. Chambers.
5s.)— One cannot help thinking the incident around which Betty's trials at wheel centre a somewhat email and uninteresting peg on which to hang the whole story. Moreover, the nature of the mysterious packet is never revealed to us, and Betty's justification depends to a certain extent on it. That events should develop as they did seems only natural, and the characters of the girls who constitute the" Speciality" Club are drawn with a thorough under- standing of girlish likes and dislikes. We must admit that Betty is beyond us; but Fanny Crawford, the "villain," is the best study in the book. She is naturally conscientious, but an incident in her cousin Betty's girlhood prejudices her and warps her principle till, did we not follow the process of degeneration, we should scarcely recognise her. Betty and her two sisters are wild and undis- ciplined to the verge of improbability, and one can easily imagine the sensation aroused by their arrival with caterpillars and a tame spider at Haddo Court. The story is dull at times, but there are dramatic scenes in it—Betty's confession, for instance, and the occasion on which she improvises—and some of the characters will interest girl readers strongly.
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