A Passionate Pilgrim. By Percy White. (Methuen and Co.)— The
hero tells us of his love affair while still a boy in the sixth form, how it got noised abroad, and how he thrashed the yokel who spied him kissing the young lady. Sylvia throws him over, he considers, heartlessly, but he makes up for the disappointment and his father's contempt by doing well at college. Then he learns that his father's pupil, a prospective Peer and the son of his godfather, Lord Oakton, is making love to the same lady. This, the early part of the romance, is the best, and the latter part, which shows us Oakton Blake, the pos- sessor of a small fortune and the protégé of the brilliant Lady Oakton, a. clever but idle man, attracted by another girl, is less interesting. It is very well written, particularly the first part, and Blake, senior, as the heavy father ; Dorothea, the critical sister ; and young Blake himself are excellent. Lady Oakton is a somewhat inscrutable person, and it comes almost as a surprise that on her husband's death she should marry her first lover. He himself only rises to the situation at the last. It is a distinctly good novel and unobjectionable.
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