there is novelty in the character of the heroine, and
great skill is shown in its delineation. The saintly and devoted sister, whose praises Captain Berthier is never tired of singing; who goes out in the early morning, with bare feet, to give alms, and whose illness is felt more than the danger of storming Constantine, turns out an accomplished she-devil as soon as she is married. M. Achard has shown more power in some of the scenes of this painful story than in most of his earlier works, but some of his earlier works, though not so vigorous, were more healthy. He has not an absolute command of his subject, now that he has risen to an atmosphere of such intensity. The conclusion of the story startles us by its melodramatic suddenness, and the knot, which was becoming Gordian, is cut with the precipitation of despair. Chains of iron can only be broken by iron, but there is something ignoble in killing even a she-devil with a poker.
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