I doubt whether the complications which attend the devolution of dead men's property were created for the confusion of survivors or for the convenience of novelists. In the case of _The Lost Mr. Linthwaite_ (HODDER AND STOUGHTON), _Mrs. Byfield_ had married _Mr. Byfield_, or at least she thought she had, and _Mr. Byfield_ had died, supposedly intestate. Previously _Mrs. Byfield_ had married _Mr. Melsome_, or again she thought she had, and _Mr. Melsome_ had disappeared and was assumed to be dead, leaving nothing behind him except a brother as vile as himself. The following discoveries were made by her in due sequence: That _Mr. Melsome_ was not dead and that therefore she was not _Mrs. Byfield_ but _Mrs. Melsome_; that _Mr. Melsome_ was already married when he purported to marry her, and that therefore she was not _Mrs. Melsome_ but _Mrs. Byfield_; and that a solicitor's clerk was absconding with the bulk of the _Byfield_ estate, which, of course, was what the bother was all about. Her son, bitten with the craze for discoveries, then discovered on his own that the late _Mr. Byfield_ hadn't died intestate. I wonder myself if he ever really died at all.... These are what Mr. J. S. FLETCHER very aptly calls the mere legalities; the plot, which thickens and thickens from first page to last, concerns the handling of them by the evil but talented _Melsome_ brothers, the accidental intervention of _Mr. Linthwaite_, and the rescue work of his admirable nephew, _Mr. Richard Brixey_, of _The Morning Sentinel_. Mr. FLETCHER tells his story well, but up to the very last moment I was looking and hoping for a surprise and was suspecting those legalities of being a deception invented to make the surprise all the greater. A first-class adventure, in my opinion spoilt by the sacrifice of originality to technicality. * * * * * "The girls, to the number of 116, escaped in their night attire, and displayed great coolness."--_News of the World._ Very natural. * * * * * "Baron Evence Coppee, a Belgian, has been arrested on the charge of furnishing coal to the enemy during the war."--_Daily Paper._ With a name like that the copper could hardly miss him. * * * * * "Sir Robert is now satisfied, I understand, that there is considerable merit in the adage 'all comes to he who waits.'"--_Daily Paper._ SIR ROBERT seems easily pleased. * * * * * "ORCHESTRA (small), or few Instrumentalists, for sea-handling Margarine and Butter in up-to-date style."--_Advt. in Provincial Paper._ But we fear that some of the stuff met with nowadays would "beat the band."