21 JANUARY 1893, Page 24

Bent on Conquest. By Edith Maud Nicholson. 3 vols. (Hurst

and Blackett.)—This is really a somewhat silly story. The noble- man who employs as his agent a stranger of whose character and capacities he knows nothing, and the hated heir who makes him- self indispensable in the house from which he is supposed to be irrevocably banished, are scarcely characters from real life. Mega, though she is meant to be all that is charming, is a foolish young woman, though scarcely so foolish as the other heroine, Marie. As for the hero, we are hopelessly prejudiced against him by the soliloquy with which he introduces himself : "It is not my fault that they all break their hearts over me. I am not responsible for may good looks—nay, I have done my level best to ruin them ; but I do believe the more haggard and worn and prematurely old I become, the more fascinating and interesting I appear in the eyes of the fair sex, and the popular idea that I am wicked gives an additional charm to my society." It is impossible to forgive that.