Dorothy Saddington. By the Author of "The Nausicaa." (Skeffington and
Son.)—The author of this story says that a portion of it was suggested by a German work, and perhaps the difficulty of giving this suggestion in an English setting accounts to some extent for an incoherence in plot which mars what might have been a fairly good historical novel. Some of the rather too numerous pronouncements of an ethical character suggest the possibility of their having been originally "made in Germany," such as, "Nature pours out her wealth impartially upon all her shildren ; she involuntarily, as it were, stretches out her arm to serve up her portion of presents for all to take, she robs none, and her children have what they like, and it is right that they should do." As has been already hinted, there are the rudiments of a good story in Dorothy Saddington, although the young woman to whom is assigned what in plays is known as the title-r6le, counts for virtually nothing. There is a young man of the name of Saddington, however, who is wanted for a murder in America. Immediately after he has succeeded in fascinating a number of girls, he turns out to be a Stanhope, and finds a father very unexpectedly. And then there is a very good man—,the good man of the story in fact—Sir Philip Castletown, who "loses his love" under positively distressing circumstances, and who con- soles himself in a Tennysonian fashion. The girls in the story are better drawn than the men. Altogether, Dorothy Saddington has a school-girlish look. But it is neither unpleasant nor un- interesting.
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