Miss F. E. MILLS YOUNG, in _Imprudence_ (HODDER AND STOUGHTON), is not at the top of her form, but a neat and effective finish makes some amends for a performance which is, like the wind in a weather report, mainly moderate or light. The heroine, _Prudence Graynor_, was the child of her father's second marriage, and she was afflicted with a battalion of elderly half-sisters and one quite detestable half-brother. This battalion was commanded by one _Agatha_, and it submitted to her orders and caprices in a way incomprehensible to _Prudence_--and incidentally to me. The _Graynors_ and also the _Morgans_ were of "influential commercial stock," and both families were so essentially Victorian in their outlook and manner of living that I was surprised when 1914 was announced. The trouble with this story is that too many of the characters are drawn from the stock-pot. But I admit that, before we have done with them, they acquire a certain distinction from the adroitness with which the author extricates them from apparently hopeless situations. * * * * * [Illustration: MORE WORRIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. _The Goat._ "WHO ARE YOU?" _The Man_ (_greatly disturbed_). "WHO? ME? I--I'M THE NEW GAMEKEEPER." _The Goat._ "WELL, I'M THE LATE GAMEKEEPER. YOU SEE, OLD BILKS THE SORCERER TOOK TO POACHING LATELY, AND I WAS FOOL ENOUGH TO CATCH HIM AT IT."] * * * * * =Praise from "The Times."= "The Chancellor of the Exchequer, with that absence of commercial training which is essential to one occupying such a position..." * * * * * =Another Sex-Problem=. "WANTED.--Six White Leghorn Cockerels; 6 Black Minorca Cockerels. Must lay eggs."--_Times of Ceylon._ * * * * * "A dreamy professor in a dim romantic laboratory may light upon a placid formula and, like Aladdin, roll back the portals of the enchanted fastness with a tranquil open sesame."--_Magazine._ But why should his laboratory be dim when he has _Ali Baba's_ wonderful lamp to light it? * * * * *