I wish Mr. DOUGLAS SLADEN would not throw so many bouquets at his characters. _Roger Wynyard_, the hero of _Grace Lorraine_ (HUTCHINSON), was really just a very ordinary youth, but when I discovered that he was "the fine flower of our Public-School system," "as chivalrous as a Bayard," and so forth, I began--unfairly, perhaps, but quite irresistibly--to entertain a considerable prejudice against him. Let me hasten, however, to add that Mr. SLADEN has packed his novel with the kind of incident which appeals to the popular mind, though his conclusion may cause a shock to those who think that our divorce-laws are in need of reform. In the matter of style Mr. SLADEN is content with something short of perfection. "It was easier for her to forgive a man, with his happy-go-lucky nature, for getting into trouble, than to forgive his getting out again by not being sufficiently careful not to add to the other person's misfortune." For myself, I do not find it so easy to forgive these happy-go-lucky methods in a writer who ought to know better by now. * * * * * [Illustration: _Sentry_. "WHO GOES THERE?" _Tommy_. "FRIEND." _Sentry_ (_on recognising voice_). "FRIEND! I DON'T THINK. WHY, YOU'RE THE CHAP WHO BAGGED MY MESS-TIN BEFORE THE LAST KIT-INSPECTION."] * * * * * THE WAR LOAN; A LAST APPEAL. Now, by the memory of our gallant dead, And by our hopes of peace through victory won, Lend of your substance; let it not be said You left your part undone. Lend all and gladly. If this bitter strife May so by one brief hour be sooner stayed, Then is your offering, spent to ransom life, A thousand times repaid. * * * * *