WORD OF HONOUR. By " Sapper." (Hodder and Stoughton. 7s.
6d, net.)—" Sapper' is not so good ink short stories as in a full-length novel ; but he still shows many of his virtues. His style is conversational and easy, his plots are uninvolved, and everything goes with a swing. Of course, if the 'reader pulls himself up and begins to think whether the stories are life-like, he will feel- rather dubious. " Sapper " accepts so many bluff and hearty conventions. A murder or so is no sin in the cause of love. A hero can do no wrong if we are informed beforehand that he is " straight." The convention of which " Sapper" is fondest is that all bronzed and blue-eyed men should, be allowed to take the law into their own harids. And iininediately we hear that a man's jaw sets, we know that he is beyond good and evil. From a sociological point of view, this is dangerous doctrine ; but who cares for anything but the story when he is reading " Sapper " ?
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