population
attracted to the new colony, the constant state of alarm from the
threatened incursions by the Spanish from the South and the presence
of Indians and negroes, furnish plenty of material for an exciting
tale of which a high-spirited and refined young woman is the central
figure throughout. That she should suffer humiliations at which she
bitterly rebelled is not to be wondered at, and, in spite of her
arrogant pride, one cannot help sympathizing with her in her troubles
and rejoicing with her and with Robert Marshall in their reunion.

The material used in the book is peculiarly difficult to handle on
account of its complexity, but the authors are to be sincerely
congratulated on having constructed out of it a very interesting and
coherent tale.

* * * * *

Mr. Harris Dickson has furnished another demonstration of the fact
that a man can do two things--though, perhaps, not at the same
time--and do them well. It is safe to assume that his professional
life has been a busy one, for a lawyer who attains a judicial
distinction, as a rule, has to work hard, but in spite of it he has
found time to write an exceedingly good story.

"The Ravanels," published by Lippincott, is a characteristically
Southern tale; Southern in setting, in character and in action.
Whether justly or not--probably not--it is more or less widely
accepted as a fact that less regard is shown for the value of human
life in the South than in the East, and it may reasonably be said that
a defect in Mr. Dickson's story is that, in some measure, it tends to
give color to this opinion, for its theme deals chiefly with one of
the feuds of which we read so much.

Stephen Ravanel, the hero and a scion of a distinguished Southern
family, grows up cherishing a bitter resentment against his father's
murderer, Powhatan Rudd, who has escaped punishment for the crime. His
earliest recollection is that of his dead father, whose body is shown
to him by his aunt.

After he has reached manhood, the spirit of revenge still alive, Rudd
is killed under circumstances which point to Stephen as the slayer. It
is the trial of the young man on the charge of murder that supplies a
most exciting and dramatic episode in the story, and it is extremely
well done, for all the essential particulars are produced without
undue emphasis.

There is, of course, a love story, a very attractive and convincing
one, of which the heroine, Mercia