I did not take the publishers' statement that _Pengard Awake_ (METHUEN) was "entirely unlike Mr. STRAUS'S previous stories" as a recommendation, however alluring it was intended to be, for he has good and enjoyable work to his credit. I doubt, indeed, if he has yet written a book more acceptable to the novel-reading public than this tale of "action, mystery and wonderful adventures" (again I quote from the paper wrapper). Possibly in a so-called mystery book the author ought to have his readers guessing all the time, but if I was not perpetually engaged in this rather exhausting pursuit I was, at any rate, intrigued. _Pengard_, who is also _Sylvester_, and yet is neither the one nor the other, may be too much for your saner moments of credulity. But Mr. STRAUS tells his queer story so plausibly and with so light a touch that even though you may affect to scoff at his dashing improbabilities you cannot escape their attraction. Indeed Mr. STRAUS'S adventure into fields hitherto strange to him has been so successful that I am inclined to ask him to continue cultivating them. * * * * * Life's Little Contradictions. "Now mind, you know, if I kill you it's nothing, but if you kill me, by Jingo, it's murder." This remark was put by JOHN LEECH into the lips of a small Special Constable, represented as menacing a gigantic ruffian, and was not, as you might think, addressed by a Sinn Feiner to a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary. * * * * * Messrs. W. H. Smith & Son. Mr. Punch wishes to offer the most sincere congratulations to his old friends on the occasion of the centenary of their firm.