little as possible upon the details of the rebellion; but she has made it her duty to win back for MONMOUTH some of the credit for personal courage of which popular history has been too ready to deprive him. Here you may read how, after the short agony of nerves was over, he faced death with a placid and untheatrical bravery, than which the long records of the scaffold show nothing finer. It is a profoundly moving end to a fascinating story. * * * * * [Illustration: OUR CURIO CRANKS. THE MAN WHO TAKES IMPRESSIONS OF THE FOOTPRINTS OF FAMOUS AUTHORS.] * * * * * 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." * * * * *