A Singer's Wife. By Fanny M. D. Murfree. (Cassell and
Co.)— This is a story of the reigning American fashion, in which character is elaborately studied, and incident, so to speak, tabooed. Felicia Raymond marries a professional singer against her father's wish. The pair are not happy together. She cannot enter into his life, and yet cannot be content, as may well be supposed, to stand outside it. When she comes to hear him sing, she makes him sing false. That is how we read the story, but we do not understand how the result is brought about. Filially, he is killed at the burning of the opera-house, and she goes back to her father's home, not a little disenchanted. Miss Murfree writes well, sometimes, we might say, eloquently ; but it is not easy to make a story of this kind attractive, even though we may admire it from a literary point of view.—Most readers will find some- thing more to their taste in a selection of stories, seven in number, The Prince's Whim; and other Stories, by Katharine S. Macquoid (Innes and Co.)
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