CURRENT LITERATURE.
Off the Roll. By Katharine King. (Hurst and Blackett.)—This is a clever novel, with an ingenious plot, which Miss King has worked out with more than her usual carefulness. Off the Roll has just the same pleasant, breezy, out-of-door flavour about it which renders all the author's stories wholesome and attractive. The scene is laid in Canada, and the vivid descriptions of the forests, the rivers, the snows, and the sports, the peculiarities of social life in the Dominion, the exhilarating atmosphere of the story—although it begins with an incident for which the most sensational writer might be thankful—lend it charming novelty. Miss King makes steady progress. This is a better book than " Cruel Con- stancy," which was better than "The Queen of the Regiment,"—the first novel that drew attention to its author. There are capital character-sketches in Of the Roll, and some military-lady dialogues which read very like life indeed. The book would have borne com- pression, but unlike most novels, not in the second volume. That is, strange to say, Miss King's strong point.
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