PERISHABLE GOODS. By Dornford Yates. (Hodder and Stoughton. 7s. 6d.)—This
novel cannot be too cordially commended to such as love to see " the bright eyes of danger " go glinting through the racing chapters. " Rose " Noble, the ancient and formidable enemy of George Hanbury, William Chandos, and their leader, the peerless Jonathan Manse', as a move towards capturing the great fortune of which he was frustrated, abducts Adele, married to Boy Pleydell, and secretly adored by Mansel. She is grimly described by the bandit as " perishable goods." Motors chase, explore, lie in ambush. Spies come to the gallows without legal interference. Desperate clues are perilously followed ; and Adele is known to be prisoner in the moated and mighty Castle of Gath, near Lass, a princely castle; long ago builded in the air for the Emperor Maximilian. The castle is marvellously sealed, and the pulsating game of deadly hide-and-seek proceeds in the vast rooms and corridors. Here the succession of wild surprises, which yet grow organically out of each other, is admirably managed. The part played in the story by the amiable bookseller of Lass, for example, is truly artistic. Some delicate Ruritanian sentiment and a touch or two of real romantic beauty add distinction to the thrilling pages. Perhaps John Mansel should die triumphant on the king's bed ; but the author's genius for incident is reluctantly sated, and the reader's thirst for his dramatic changes is likely to be unquenchable. Excitement of the first quality is provided by Perish- able Goods.
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