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FICTION —(continued)

This is a rattling good story, with a thoroughly sound plot full of mystery and excitement. The heroine is an English girl, the villain an Austrian, and the action takes place on the Continent.

This story describes the spiritual and emotional adventures of Adrian Corbet, a young man who believes he has a vocation for the priesthood, but discovering his mistake when he is on the point of being ordained, gives up parish work and joins a Bohemian colony of artists in Fitzroy Square. His life is influenced by two women: first by Rose Harford, a selfish prude, who appeals to all that is worst in his nature, and designs to make use of him for her own ends; and secondly by Elizabeth Moore, a charming, unconventional creature who throughout acts the part of his good angel.

The action of the novel takes place successively in Hampstead and in Fitzroy Square, and it contains many vivid descriptions of London life.

This is an absorbingly fascinating and exciting story with an entirely new turn to it. It tells of the doings of four adventurous gentlemen amateurs in elucidating the baffling mystery surrounding the disposal of a Mining Concession in Portuguese West Africa. The scenes are laid in London, Portugal, and Devonshire, and the interest is maintained at white heat to the last page. The strenuousness of the action is relieved by a prettily-handled love interest.

A strong point of the book is the extreme lucidity and probability of its plot; while the perfectly natural style in which it is written is eminently suited to the characters. One cannot put the book down until it is finished.