Mignon. By Mrs. Forrester. 3 vols. (Hurst and Blackett.)—Mrs. Forrester
has bad the courage to follow the maxim which it is easy for critics to proclaim, but not easy for writers to carry out, that the chief interest of a woman's life is most probably to be found after her marriage. And she does it, too, and this is a still greater difficulty, without going too far into dangerous ground. Mignon is an exquisitely beautiful girl, with whom a man of middle-age falls frantically in love, and whom he marries, knowing well that she cares nothing for him. The story of the after-life of these two is well told, and Mignon is well -contrasted with another fascinating creature, Kitty by name, who begins with very mercenary professions indeed, but ends by being much better than she professes. The Nemesis which overtakes at last the heartless Mignon is finely described, and the justice which brings a deserved punishment on Raymond L'Estrange is not the wild imagina- tion of that name which has the epithet "poetical" attached to it, but a genuine reality. Genuine realities, too, are the men, whom Mrs. Forrester draws with quite unusual force. This is a good story well told, and if the thought is not too daring, might do good to some lovely being of the Mignon order, if sho could only be persuaded to read it.
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