* * * * *
After reading _Two Women_ (METHUEN) I hope to avoid "girl bachelors" for
a very long time. They are, Mr. MAX PEMBERTON says, curious products of
the century, and I am not disposed to contradict him. In _Gertrude
Wynne's_ flat, "Debussy's music was open upon a miniature grand, and a
volume of Anatola France stood upon the marquetry table near the
fireplace"; but in _Doris Holt's_ room "an open piano had a song from a
revue upon it, while a translation of one of Paul de Koch's novels lay
upon the window-seat." That ought to give the key to their characters,
but if it does not, let me boldly add that _Gertrude_ was clever and
sedate, while _Doris_ was a queen of minxes. _Doris_, indeed, got
herself into a pretty mess with a vulgar philanderer called _Lord
Raymore_, and was justly punished by marrying him. This _Raymore_ man
despised politics, but all the same he had made up his mind to "win a
place in the Tory Cabinet, and to pose there as the new Disraeli," which
makes me think that Mr. PEMBERTON is occasionally funnier than he means
to be. Not until we get away from the girl bachelors and are off on a
spying expedition to Germany with _Captain Ainsworth_ does the story
grip. Then, however, things begin to happen, and the flight from the
German fortress, in which _Ainsworth_ had been imprisoned, is really
thrilling. In his next book I hope Mr. PEMBERTON will leave "curious
products" alone and let us have an extra dose of adventure to make up
for the meagre allowance contained in _Two Women_.
* * * * *
"It is far more important to have the right style in the country
than in town. Men don't want their women to wear something that
will frighten the birds away. Nothing cheap or badly cut ought ever
to be worn in the country."
_Vanity Fair and Hearth & Home._
_The birds_: "We really cannot stay to be shot to-day, the women are
wearing such cheap clothes."
* * * * *
Close of an essay by a small girl on CHARLES I.:--"Had Charles the First
been more strong minded and sincere, he would have been a better king;
as it was, he was more suited for a clergyman."
* * * * *