Out of the Night. By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. (Hodder and
Stoughton. 6s.)—It is difficult for the British reader to under- stand what Mrs. Baillie Reynolds means by allowing one of her characters to ask of the heroine : "What part of America do you come from?" when the answer is Vancouver. The name "America" is so universally associated with the United States that it is surely a mistake to use it in connexion with a State which is a portion of the British Empire. The expression "the American Continent" would convey the facts better than "America." The novel is concerned with a young lady who returns from Vancouver to what remains of her dead father's family. She is in no want of means, and leaves her estate to her manager. The picture of English country life and society would perhaps have been truer thirty years ago than it is to-day. Even " county " society, that most conservative of institutions, has had its bands so loosened by modern conditions that it is impossible to believe in the people depicted, especially in the reigning family of Banbury. The day of the rule of people like Lord and Lady Bunbnry is past. The heroine is an attractive young person, but the hero, Jem Bardsley, with his shy and sulky demeanour and his emotional soul, is rather a conventional figure. The book is more than readable, and the account of the difficulties which the heroine finds in not doing more harm than good in her work among the poor is extremely well given.
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