Agatha Page. By Isaac Henderson. 2 vols. (Chatto and Windus.)—The
heroine of this story is the daughter of an American father and an Italian mother, and is certainly a very happy specimen of a mixed race. Indeed, one way of looking at the book is as a study in heredity. There is an American pur sang, who is not by any means a desirable person, and an unmixed
who is a great deal worse. The contrast of the story is,
indeed, between the self-restraint and loyal faith of Agatha and the wayward and uncontrolled passion of her Italian cousin. But there are good Italians too. The Duke and Duchess are quite admirable figures, though there is a certain stolid common-sense about the Duke which would incline us to claim him as a country- man of our own. The courtship of Agatha Page is a charming story ; the narrative of her married life has much that is painful in it. Indeed, it is difficult to understand how a husband who had certainly loved her and could appreciate her, could have been drawn away by any wiles, however powerful. Agatha Page, on the whole, is distinctly above the average novel, both in conception and. execution.
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