CURRENT LITERATURE.
Stung to the Quick. A North Country Story. By Mrs. G. Linnseus Banks. 3 vols. (C. W. Wood.)—After reading about a volume and a half of this novel with some pleasure, we suddenly discover that it is a sensational novel. To judge from the first half, we thought it was going to be purely a novel of character. Mrs. Linnaeus Banks shows us that she can work both of these two veins, though they rarely run in the same soil. Her success is greater in the first part of the book, as the contrast between the characters of Eva and Rhoda is skilfully brought out, and there is enough incident to keep the story moving. In the second half of the novel we are excited enough, and we admire the ingenuity of the plot and of the constant surprises. But the first half is possible, while the second is merely sensational, and Mrs. Linnaeus Banks has taught us to look for nature. There are several weak links in her chain of events ; discoveries made too rapidly, and simple pre- cautions too foolishly neglected. The whole episode of the Italian singing master savours more of farce than even of that reality which we expect in novels of incident. We grant that the idea of doing such a thing would occur to a girl like Rhoda as a fitting means of revenge, but we cannot believe in her carrying it out successfully. Indeed, the success of her other schemes appears to us improbable, and their detection after they had succeeded so far is not much more consistent. Still, the novel is readable, and its faults are not glaring.
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