Robert Holt's Illusion, and other Stories. By Mary Linskill. (Ward
and Downey.)—Miss Linskill always puts very good matter into her stories; so good it is, so full of reflection and feeling, that we rather grudge it to what can scarcely but be of an ephemeral nature. But fiction nowadays commands the best that literary power has to give. Let us hope that it is not wasted. There are three stories in this volume. The first, from which it takes its name, is a fine study of character ; the "illusion" is the passion of a man who is carried out of himself by the charms of a fair face and a winning manner, though he knows in his heart that he is throwing away a treasure that might be his. This is well por- trayed; but the woman whom he leaves, and to whom in the end he returns, is very finely drawn indeed. " Godvryn " is, on the whole, inferior. The motive of the story is less simple and less forcible. But there are good things here, too, we need hardly say, as, for instance, the passionate attachment of the lonely Nannie Woodvyl for Godwyn Barry. There is just a touch of humour, too, a thing with which Miss Linskill indulges her readers too seldom.
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