21 OCTOBER 1893, Page 23

Nicola; or, a Girl Musician. By M. Corbet-Seymour. (Blaokie and

Son.)—This a pretty story of a musical foundling who becomes

one of the family who adopt her, and tries to forget her birth and ignore the presence of a devoted half-brother. Finally, her pride is conquered, and with a severe lesson—the loss of her voice—all ends well. The character of the half-brother is distinctly unusual—unselfish, disinterested, and living for nothing but the thought of providing a rich home for the genius who can barely

bring herself to allow that ho exists. Half-brothers have a different role, as a rule, in fiction,—and in life, too, some will add. Nicola is well told, natural, and has a great deal of quiet pathos about it, and if not possessing much action, is yet a decidedly readable story.