The Vision of Balmaine. By G. B. Burgin. (Hutchinson and
Co. 6s.)—The hero of this story is a banker who is con- demned to penal servitude for a forgery which he knows to have been committed by his manager, but which he has sworn to the same manager never to betray. The extraordinarily salutary effect of penal servitude on Mr. Balmaine makes it well worth while for him to have suffered his unjust punishment, and at the end of his sentence he returns to life and finds everyone, except the real criminal, extremely glad to welcome him. There is more than a touch of mysticism about the latter half of the book, which is concerned chiefly with the vision mentioned in the title. Very little doubt could be entertained as to the beautiful efficacy of the British prison system if the result of imprisonment on the mind and morals of criminals was always as excellent as it proved to be in the case of Mr. Balmaine.
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