Chapter XVIII: Conclusion

When every month brings some change in the political position in China, and the daily press is full of more or less contradictory rumours as to what is going on at Pekin, it is impossible to come to any real decision on the many vexed questions under discussion. One great fact, however, emerges distinctly from out of the chaos of conflicting data, and that is, that it will be Russia, with her wonderful faculty for working steadily onwards towards a definite aim, who will secure the lion's share in the spoliation of the Celestials, whilst her Trans-Siberian railway, which already pays its way, creating trade wherever it passes, and in another four years will connect St. Petersburg with Port Arthur, will be one of the most important factors in changing the course of the commerce of the world.

Shut in as she is on the East by the English in Burmah and the French in Cochin-China, threatened on the West by the Germans and the Japanese, and dominated on the north by Russia, the Celestial Empire finds herself compelled to awake from her long stupor, and to arouse herself to action of some kind. With no real army, no longer an efficient fleet, however, what can she do? She can only choose what seems to her the least of the evils hemming her in on every side, and elect from among the many competitors for the post, the protector best able to save her not only from her outside enemies, but from herself.

[Sidenote: IMPORTANCE OF RUSSIA]

As has been very aptly said, Russia is of all the Western Powers the most imbued with Oriental ideas, and she combines, with the energy and ambition of a first-rate power of the future, a sympathy with the Celestials altogether wanting to France, Germany, or Great Britain. There is, in fact, an actual affinity of race between the Chinese and the inhabitants of the northern steppes, and there is therefore far more hope of real amalgamation between them than there can be in any other case. The English, the French, the Germans, the Italians, if they win the concessions they are now in their turn clamouring for, will always be aliens in the districts they acquire, and there will never, to use a homely but expressive phrase, be any love lost between them and the natives.

Li-Hung-Chang, one of the most enlightened statesmen who have ever arisen in China, came to Europe in 1896 with a view to ascertaining by personal observation, which of the western nations would be likely to be the best friend for his distracted country, in the enfeebled condition to which the war with Japan had reduced her. He saw quickly enough that it would not be England, nor Germany, nor France, but that it would be Russia. It was therefore with Russia that a treaty was eventually made, and ratified in 1897; this treaty, in addition to other privileges, giving to the great northern power. Port Arthur, with the right of making it a coaling station, and in case of war of concentrating troops in its harbour. "The Russians and the Chinese," said Mitchie, writing more than thirty years ago, "are peculiarly suited to each other ... the Russians meet the Chinese as Greek meets Greek ... they understand each other's character thoroughly, because they are so closely alike." Recent events have proved how true was the insight of this astute observer, and it is evident that whilst the other Powers will have to content themselves with their various spheres of influence, Russia alone will obtain real political control of the Celestial Empire as a whole. There remains now no hope that the disintegrating forces at work in the once powerful nation will be arrested from within, in spite of the fact that again and again China has risen in the past from apparent dissolution into a greater nation than before, absorbing her conquerors and converting them into patriots, ready to dare all for their adopted country. The saving force must now come from without, and when once more there is a strong hand directed by a strong brain at the head of affairs, the resources of the unhappy land will be found to be practically inexhaustible. With a prolific soil, vast mineral wealth, and a teachable population, there is indeed no limit to what China, which has been called the India of the future, may become.

In the imminent partition of China into spheres of influence, should that partition finally supersede the more generous policy of the opening of the whole country on equal terms to the trade of all the European nations, the Yang-tse basin, with its populous towns of Nanking, Hankow, Fuchan, and others, will be the field of action of Great Britain; whilst Shantung, a rich sea-bound province, will be that of Germany; and the French, who already occupy Tonking on the south, will obtain concessions in the neighbouring districts. On every side railways are now being projected, and the probability is that ere the century just about to open has run half its course, the whole of China will be intersected by them.

In the Blue Book on Chinese affairs, issued on the 14th March of the current year (1899), the following significant statistics of the railway concessions granted to foreigners in the Celestial Empire are given, showing that Great Britain is more than equal to Russia in the actual amount of mileage secured, whilst Germany, France, Belgium, and America have among them less than Great Britain alone:

[Sidenote: TELEGRAPHS IN CHINA]

British railways 2,800 miles
Russian " 1,530 "
German " 720 "
Belgian " 650 "
French " 420 "
American " 300 "

More important still, as breaking up finally the isolation on which China has prided herself for so many centuries, is the fact that already pretty well all the important towns of the vast Empire are connected by telegraph with each other, and with the outside world. The search-light of publicity is in fact turned full upon the land once so fraught with mystery, and before long there will be no hidden thing connected with either court or country which will not be revealed to the inquisitive gaze of all the world.

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insight and understanding. The author has a steady mastery over the
story she wishes to tell, and she tells it clearly and eloquently,
without hesitation and without prolixity. The book has this
merit--the first merit of a novel--that the reader is interested in
the people rather than the plot, and that he watches the development
of character rather than that of event."--_Literary World_.

SIR ANTHONY.

By Adeline Sergeant.

"Sir Anthony introduces two mysterious children, Henry and Elfrida,
into his house, and compels his wife, whom he dislikes, to protect
and virtually adopt them. In due course he tells these children,
in his own vigorous Anglo-Saxon, 'You two are my eldest son and
daughter, lawfully begotten of my wife, once Mary Derrick, and known
afterwards as Mary Paston. You will be Sir Henry Kesterton when I
die, and Elfrida is heiress to her grandmother's money and jewels.'
Lady Kesterton overheard this terrible statement. He repeats it in
a still more offensive form. Thereupon she gives him an overdose of
chloral and fights desperately, and with temporary success, for what
she regards as the rights of her children, but especially of her son
Gerard. Failure overtakes her, and Elfrida, though not poor Henry,
comes by her own. The plot is good and thoroughly sustained from
first to last."--_Academy_.

THUNDERBOLT.

By the Rev. J. Middleton Macdonald.

"'Thunderbolt' is an Australian rival of Claude Duval and Mr.
Macdonald records his daring feats with unflagging verve. Never was
police officer more defied nor bewildered than the Major Devereux,
of brilliant Indian reputation, who, in the Australian bush, finds
that to catch a robber of Thunderbolt's temperament and ability
requires local knowledge as well as other gifts undreamt-of by the
Hussar officer. Thunderbolt goes to races under the Major's nose,
dances in the houses of his friends, robs Her Majesty's mails and
diverse banks, but conducts himself with (on occasion) the chivalrous
courtesy that characterised his prototype. His tragical end is told
with spirit, while the book has excellent descriptions of Australian
life, both in town and country."--_Morning Post_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

MARY FENWICK'S DAUGHTER.

By Beatrice Whitby.

"This is one of the most delightful novels we have read for a long
time. 'Bab' Fenwick is an 'out of doors' kind of girl, full of
spirit, wit, go, and sin, both original and acquired. Her lover,
Jack, is all that a hero should be, and great and magnanimous as he
is, finds some difficulty in forgiving the _insouciante_ mistress all
her little sins of omission and commission. When she finally shoots
him in the leg--by accident--the real tragedy of the story begins.
The whole is admirable, if a little long."--_Black and White_.

ROBERT CARROLL.

By the Author of 'Mistress Beatrice Cope.'

"M. E. Le Clerc devotes herself to historic fiction, and her success
is sufficient to justify her in the occasional production of stories
like 'Mistress Beatrice Cope' and 'Robert Carroll.' Beatrice Cope was
a Jacobite's daughter, so far as memory serves, and Robert Carroll
was the son of a Jacobite baronet, who played and lost his stake at
Preston, fighting for the Old Pretender. Of course the hero loved a
maiden whose father was a loyal servant of King George, and, almost
equally of course, one of this maiden's brothers was a Jacobite. A
second brother, by the way, appears as a lad of sixteen in the spring
of 1714, and as a wounded colonel of cavalry on the morrow of the
fight at Preston, less than two years later--rapid promotion even for
those days, though certainly not impossible. The author has taken
pains to be accurate in her references to the events of the time, and
her blend of fact and fiction is romantic enough."--_Athenæum_.

THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE.

By the Author of 'Some Married Fellows.'

"It is a comfort to turn from the slipshod English and the tiresome
slang of many modern novels to the easy and cultured style of 'The
Husband of One Wife,' and we have been thoroughly interested in the
story, as well as pleased with the manner in which it is told. As for
Mrs. Goldenour, afterwards Mrs. Garfoyle, afterwards Mrs. Pengelley,
she is certainly one of the most attractive as well as one of the
most provoking of heroines, and Mrs. Venn has succeeded admirably in
describing her under both aspects. The scene of the dinner-party,
and the description of the bishop's horror at its magnificence is
very clover. We are very glad to meet several old friends again,
especially Mrs. Gruter, who is severe and amusing as ever. Altogether
we feel that Mrs. Venn's novels are books to which we can confidently
look forward with pleasure."--_Guardian_.

BROTHER GABRIEL.

By M. Betham-Edwards.

"The story will be followed with unfaltering interest. Nor is
anything short of unmixed praise due to several of the episodes
and separate incidents of which it is composed. The principal
characters--Delmar, Zoe's cousin and lover--stand out in decided and
life-like relief. In the sketches of scenery, especially those of the
coast of Brittany and the aspect of its sea, both in calm and storm.
Miss Betham-Edwards need not fear comparison with the best masters of
the art."--_Spectator_.

"The book is one that maybe read with pleasure; it is fluently,
flowingly, carefully written; and It contains very pleasant sketches
of character."--_Academy_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

A MATTER OF SKILL.

By Beatrice Whitby.

"Miss Whitby essays a lighter vein than usual in her collection of
stories, entitled 'A Matter of Skill.' But she writes with the same
excellence and freedom, and all these miniature love-stories will be
cordially welcomed. Lovely woman appears in these pages in a variety
of moods, humorous and pathetic, and occasionally she seems not a
little 'uncertain, coy, and hard to please.' The title story, showing
how a stately girl is captured, after a good deal of trouble, by a
short and common-place young man, is very amusing; and there are
other sketches in which it is interesting to follow the wiles of
Mother Eve ere she has come to years of discretion."--_Academy_.

JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.

By Mrs. Craik.

"The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless
meet with great success. John Halifax, the hero of this most
beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this his history is no
ordinary book. It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one
of nature's own nobility. It is also the history of a home, and a
thoroughly English one. The work abounds in incident, and many of the
scenes are full of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book that
few will read without becoming wiser and better."--_Scotsman_.

A LIFE FOR A LIFE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"We are always glad to welcome this author. She writes from her own
convictions, and she has the power not only to conceive clearly what
it is that she wishes to say, but to express it in language effective
and vigorous. In 'A Life for a Life' she Is fortunate in a good
subject, and she has produced a work of strong effect The reader,
having read the book through for the story, will be apt (if he be of
our persuasion) to return and read again many pages and passages with
greater pleasure than on a first perusal. The whole book is replete
with a graceful, tender delicacy; and, in addition to its other
merits, it is written in good careful English."--_Athenæum_.

CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A more charming story, to our taste, has rarely been written. Within
the compass of a single volume the writer has hit off a circle of
varied characters, all true to nature--some true to the highest
nature--and she has entangled them in a story which keeps us in
suspense till the knot is happily and gracefully resolved; while, at
the same time, a pathetic interest is sustained by an art of which
it would be difficult to analyse the secret. It is a choice gift
to be able thus to render human nature so truly, to penetrate its
depths with such a searching sagacity, and to illuminate them with a
radiance so eminently the writer's own."--_The Times_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

A NOBLE LIFE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"Few men and no women will read 'A Noble Life' without feeling
themselves the better for the effort."--_Spectator_.

"A beautifully written and touching tale. It is a noble
book."--_Morning Post_.

"'A Noble Life' is remarkable for the high types of character it
presents, and the skill with which they are made to work out a story
of powerful and pathetic interest."--_Daily News_.

THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM.

By Mrs. Craik.

"'The Woman's Kingdom' sustains the author's reputation as a writer
of the purest and noblest kind of domestic stories."--_Athenæum_.

"'The Woman's Kingdom' is remarkable for its romantic interest. The
characters are masterpieces. Edna is worthy of the hand that drew
John Halifax."--_Morning Post_.

A BRAVE LADY.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A very good novel, showing a tender sympathy with human nature, and
permeated: by a pure and noble spirit."--_Examiner_.

"A most charming story."--_Standard_.

"We earnestly recommend this novel. It is a special and worthy
specimen of the author's remarkable powers. The reader's attention
never for a moment flags."--_Post_.

MISTRESS AND MAID.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A good, wholesome book, as pleasant to read as it is
instructive."--_Athenæum_.

"This book is written with the same true-hearted earnestness as 'John
Halifax.' The spirit of the whole work is excellent."--_Examiner_.

"A charming tale charmingly told."--_Standard_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

YOUNG MRS. JARDINE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"'Young Mrs. Jardine' is a pretty story, written in pure
English."--_The Times_.

"There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and
wholesome."--_Athenæum_.

"A book that all should read. Whilst it is quite the equal of any
of its predecessors in elevation of thought or style, it is perhaps
their superior in interest of plot and dramatic intensity. The
characters are admirably delineated, and the dialogue is natural and
clear."--_Morning Post_.

HANNAH.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the most
successful efforts of a successful novelist."--_Daily News_.

"A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book
is sure of a wide circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one
of rare beauty."--_Standard_.

NOTHING NEW.

By Mrs. Craik.

"'Nothing New' displays all those superior merits which have made
'John Halifax' one of the most popular novels of the day."--_Morning
Post_.

"The reader will find these narratives calculated to remind him of
that truth and energy of human portraiture, that spell over human
affections and emotions, which have stamped this author as one of the
first novelists of our day."--_John Bull_.

IN TIME TO COME.

By Eleanor Holmes.

"'In Time to Come,' by Miss Eleanor Holmes, merits a good place among
one-volume novels. The theme is interesting, the characters who
work it out have been observantly studied and carefully drawn, and
the sequel justifies what at the first blush seems rather a vague
title."--_Dundee Advertiser_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

THE UNKIND WORD.

By Mrs. Craik.

"The author of 'John Halifax' has written many fascinating stories,
but we can call to mind nothing from her pen that has a more enduring
charm than the graceful sketches in this work. Such a character as
Jessie stands out from a crowd of heroines as the type of all that is
truly noble, pure, and womanly."--_United Service Magazine_.

DALEFOLK.

By Alice Rea.

"'Dalefolk' tells of the effect produced on a simple and impressible
people by a terrific curse, pronounced by a half-insane clergyman on
a parishioner whom he believes to have written an anonymous letter
of complaint to the Bishop of the diocese The cloud of mingled
awe and repulsion that rests on the family for two generations is
forcibly described. But this is only a background for a series
of capital sketches of life as it was among the West Cumberland
dalesmen at a period--this is the only note of time--when the
diocese was ruled from Chester instead of, as now, from Carlisle.
The author evidently writes from full acquaintance with her subject,
and brings out in vivid colours the quaint, old festivities, the
dancings, and wrestlings, and card-playings, the great gatherings
for shearings and 'salvings,' all of them excuses for genial and
unstinted hospitalities, and renewals of kind, neighbourly feeling
and good-fellowship, which were so needed among the loneliness and
isolation which were of necessity the habitual lot of the occupiers
of the great sheep farms. She is equally happy in entering into the
ways of thought and feeling which must have been characteristic of
the primitive and simple folk to whom the reader is introduced in her
pleasant pages."--_Guardian_.

STUDIES FROM LIFE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"These studies are truthful and vivid pictures of life, often
earnest, always full of right feeling, and occasionally lightened by
touches of quiet genial humour. The volume is remarkable for thought,
sound sense, shrewd observation, and kind and sympathetic feeling for
all things good and beautiful."--_Morning Post_.

A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A book of sound counsel It is one of the most sensible works of its
kind, well written, true-hearted, and altogether practical. Whoever
wishes to give advice to a young lady may thank the author for means
of doing so."--_Examiner_.

"These thoughts are worthy of the earnest and enlightened mind, the
all-embracing charity and well-earned reputation of the author of
'John Halifax.'"--_Standard_.

"This excellent book is characterised by good sense, good taste, and
feeling, and is written in an earnest, philanthropic, as well as
practical spirit."--_Morning Post_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

BEATRICE WHITBY'S NOVELS.

EACH IN ONE VOLUME CROWN 8vo--3s. 6d.

THE AWAKENING OF MARY FENWICK.

"We have no hesitation in declaring that 'The Awakening of Mary
Fenwick' is the best novel of its kind that we have seen for some
years. It is apparently a first effort, and, as such, is really
remarkable. The story is extremely simple. Mary Mauser marries her
husband for external, and perhaps rather inadequate, reasons, and
then discovers that he married her because she was an heiress. She
feels the indignity acutely, and does not scruple to tell him her
opinion--her very candid opinion--of his behaviour. That is the
effect of the first few chapters, and the rest of Miss Whitby's book
is devoted to relating how this divided couple hated, quarrelled, and
finally fell in love with one another. Mary Fenwick and her husband
live and move and make us believe in them in a way which few but the
great masters of fiction have been able to compass."--_Athenæum_.

ONE REASON WHY.

"The governess makes a re-entry into fiction under the auspices of
Beatrice Whitby in 'One Reason Why.' Readers generally, however,
will take a great deal more interest, for once, in the children than
in their instructress. 'Bay' and 'Ellie' are charmingly natural
additions to the children of novel-land; so much so, that there is
a period when one dreads a death-bed scene for one of them--a fear
which is happily unfulfilled."--_Graphic_.

PART OF THE PROPERTY.

"The book is a thoroughly good one. The theme is fairly familiar--the
rebellion of a spirited girl against a match which has been arranged
for her without her knowledge or consent; her resentment at being
treated, not as a woman with a heart and will, but as 'part of the
property;' and her final discovery, which is led up to with real
dramatic skill, that the thing against which her whole nature had
risen in revolt has become the one desire of her heart. The author's
greatest triumph is the portrait of Mrs. Lindsay, who, with the
knowledge of the terrible skeleton in the cupboard of her apparently
happy home, wears so bravely the mask of light gaiety as to deceive
everybody but the one man who knows her secret."--_Spectator_.

IN THE SUNTIME OF HER YOUTH.

"A description of a home stripped by the cold wind of poverty of all
its comforts, but which remains home still. The careless optimism of
the head of the family would be incredible, if we did not know how
men exist full of responsibilities yet free from solicitudes, and who
tread with a jaunty step the very verge of ruin; his inconsolable
widow would be equally improbable, if we did not meet every day with
women who devote themselves to such idols of clay. There is interest
in it from first to last, and its pathos is relieved by touches of
true humour."--_Illustrated London News_.

MARY FENWICK'S DAUGHTER.

"This is one of the most delightful novels we have read for a long
time. 'Bab' Fenwick is an 'out of doors' kind of girl, full of
spirit, wit, go, and sin, both original and acquired. Her lover,
Jack, is all that a hero should be, and great and magnanimous as he
is, finds some difficulty in forgiving the _insouciante_ mistress all
her little sins of omission and commission. When she finally shoots
him in the leg--by accident--the real tragedy of the story begins.
The whole is admirable."--_Black and White_.

A MATTER OF SKILL.

"Lovely woman appears in these pages in a variety of moods, humorous
and pathetic, and occasionally she seems not a little 'uncertain,
coy, and hard to please.' The title story showing how a stately
girl is captured, after a good deal of trouble, by a short and
common-place young man, is very amusing; and there are other sketches
in which it is interesting to follow the wiles of Mother Eve ere she
has come to years of discretion."--_Academy_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

MRS. CRAIK'S NOVELS

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.

"The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless
meet with great success. John Halifax, the hero of this most
beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this his history is no
ordinary book. It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one
of nature's own nobility. It is also the history of a home, and a
thoroughly English one. The work abounds in incident, and is full
of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book that few will read
without becoming wiser and better."--_Scotsman_.

A LIFE FOR A LIFE.

"We are always glad to welcome this author. She writes from her own
convictions, and she has the power not only to conceive clearly what
it is that she wishes to say but to express it in language effective
and vigorous. In 'A Life for a Life' she is fortunate in a good
subject, and she has produced a work of strong effect. The reader,
having read the book through for the story, will be apt (if he be of
our persuasion) to return and read again many pages and passages with
greater pleasure than on a first perusal. The whole book is replete
with a graceful, tender delicacy; and in addition to the other
merits, it is written in good careful English."--_Athenæum_.

CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE.

"A more charming story, to our taste, has rarely been written. Within
the compass of a single volume the writer has hit off a circle of
varied characters, all true to nature--some true to the highest
nature--and she has entangled them in a story which keeps us in
suspense till the knot is happily and gracefully resolved; while, at
the same time, a pathetic interest is sustained by an art of which
it would be difficult to analyse the secret It is a choice gift
to be able thus to render human nature so truly, to penetrate its
depths with such a searching sagacity, and to illuminate them with a
radiance so eminently the writer's own."--_The Times_.

A NOBLE LIFE.

"This is one of those pleasant tales in which the author of 'John
Halifax' speaks out of a generous heart the purest truths of
life."--_Examiner_.

"Few men, and no women, will read 'A Noble Life' without finding
themselves the better."--_Spectator_.

"A story of powerful and pathetic interest."--_Daily News_.

THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM.

"'The Woman's Kingdom' sustains the author's reputation as a writer
of the purest and noblest kind of domestic stories. The novelist's
lesson is given with admirable force and sweetness."--_Athenæum_.

"'The Woman's Kingdom' is remarkable for its romantic interest. The
characters are masterpieces Edna is worthy of the hand that drew John
Halifax."--_Post_.

A BRAVE LADY.

"A very good novel, showing a tender sympathy with human nature, and
permeated by a pure and noble spirit."--_Examiner_.

"A most charming story."--_Standard_.

"We earnestly recommend this novel It is a special and worthy
specimen of the author's remarkable powers. The reader's attention
never for a moment flags."--_Post_.

MISTRESS AND MAID.

"A good, wholesome book, as pleasant to read as it is
instructive."--_Athenæum_.

"This book is written with the same true-hearted earnestness as 'John
Halifax.' The spirit of the whole work is excellent."--_Examiner_.

"A charming tale charmingly told."--_Standard_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

MRS. CRAIK'S NOVELS

_Each in One Volume Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

YOUNG MRS. JARDINE.

"'Young Mrs. Jardine' is a pretty story, written in pure
English."--_The Times_.

"There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and
wholesome."--_Athenæum_.

"A book that all should read. Whilst it is quite the equal of any of
its predecessors in elevation of thought and style, it is perhaps
their superior in interest of plot and dramatic intensity. The
characters are admirably delineated, and the dialogue is natural and
clear."--_Morning Post_.

HANNAH.

"A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the moat
successful efforts of a successful novelist."--_Daily News_.

"A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book
is sure of a wide circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one
of rare beauty."--_Standard_.

NOTHING NEW.

"'Nothing New' displays all those superior merits which have made
'John Halifax' one of the most popular works of the day."--_Post_.

"The reader will find these narratives calculated to remind him of
that truth and energy of human portraiture, that spell over human
affections and emotions, which have stamped this author as one of the
first novelists of our day."--_John Bull_.

THE UNKIND WORD.

"The author of 'John Halifax' has written many fascinating stories,
but we can call to mind nothing from her pen that has a more enduring
charm than the graceful sketches in this work, such a character as
Jessie stands out from a crowd of heroines as the type of all that is
truly noble, pure, and womanly."--_United Service Magazine_.

STUDIES FROM LIFE.

"These studies are truthful and vivid pictures of life, often
earnest, always full of right feeling and occasionally lightened by
touches of quiet genial humour. The volume is remarkable for thought,
sound sense, shrewd observation, and kind and sympathetic feeling for
all things good and beautiful."--_Post_.

A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.

"A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of its
kind, well written true-hearted, and altogether practical. Whoever
wishes to give advice to a young lady may thank the author for means
of doing so."--_Examiner_.

"These thoughts are worthy of the earnest and enlightened mind, the
all-embracing charity, and the well-earned reputation of the author
of 'John Halifax.'"--_Standard_.

"This excellent book is characterised by good sense, good taste, and
feeling, and is written in an earnest, philanthropic, as well as
practical spirit."--_Post_.

HIS LITTLE MOTHER.

"'His Little Mother' is the story of a sister's self-sacrifice from
her childhood until her early death, worn out in her brother's and
his children's service. It is a pathetic story as the author tells
it. The beauty of the girl's devotion is described with many tender
touches, and the question of short-sighted though loving foolishness
is kept in the background. The volume is written in a pleasant
informal manner, and contains many tender generous thoughts, and not
a few practical ones. It is a book that will be read with interest,
and that cannot be lightly forgotten."--_St. James's Gazette_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

EDNA LYALL'S NOVELS

EACH IN ONE VOLUME CROWN 8vo--SIX SHILLINGS.

DONOVAN: A MODERN ENGLISHMAN.

"This is a very admirable work. The reader is from the first carried
away by the gallant unconventionality of its author. 'Donovan' is
a very excellent novel; but it is something more and better. It
should do as much good as the best sermon ever written or delivered
extempore. The story is told with a grand simplicity, an unconscious
poetry of eloquence which stirs the very depths of the heart. One of
the main excellencies of this novel is the delicacy of touch with
which the author shows her most delightful characters to be after all
human beings, and not angels before their time."--_Standard_.

WE TWO.

"There is artistic realism both in the conception and the delineation
of the personages; the action and interest are unflaggingly sustained
from first to last, and the book is pervaded by an atmosphere of
elevated, earnest thought."--_Scotsman_.

IN THE GOLDEN DAYS.

"Miss Lyall has given us a vigorous study of such life and character
as are really worth reading about. The central figure of her story is
Algernon Sydney; and this figure she invests with a singular dignity
and power. He always appears with effect, but no liberties are taken
with the facts of his life.'"--_Spectator_.

KNIGHT-ERRANT.

"The plot, and, indeed, the whole story, is gracefully fresh and very
charming; there is a wide humanity in the book that cannot fail to
accomplish its author's purpose."--_Literary World_.

WON BY WAITING.

"The Dean's daughters are perfectly real characters--the learned
Cornelia especially;--the little Impulsive French heroine, who
endures their cold hospitality and at last wins their affection, is
thoroughly charming; while throughout the book there runs a golden
thread of pure brotherly and sisterly love, which pleasantly reminds
us that the making and marring of marriage is not, after all, the sum
total of real life."--_Academy_.

A HARDY NORSEMAN.

"All the quiet humour we praised in 'Donovan' is to be found in the
new story. And the humour, though never demonstrative, has a charm
of its own. It is not Edna Lyall's plan to give her readers much
elaborate description, but when she does describe scenery her picture
is always alive with vividness and grace."--_Athenæum_.

TO RIGHT THE WRONG.

"We are glad to welcome Miss Lyall back after her long abstraction
from the fields of prosperous, popular authorship which she had
tilled so successfully. She again affronts her public with a very
serious work of fiction indeed, and succeeds very well in that thorny
path of the historical novel in which so many have failed before
her. That 'glory of warrior, glory of orator, glory of song,' John
Hampden, lives again, to a certain extent, in that dim half light of
posthumous research and loving and enthusiastic imagination which
is all the novelist can do for these great figures of the past,
resurrected to make the plot of a modern novel."--_Black and White_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

* * * * *

Transcriber Note

Images were moved to avoid splitting paragraphs. Some paragraphs were split to insert the Sidenotes.