Ten years passed and Mr. Hunks went back to Denver and found that the sixteen couples were living happily. Many little pledges had appeared to cement the bonds. All were content and perfectly mated, although several of the men were a bit henpecked—but a man soon gets used to such things. (See page 491, line 16). The women having had Experience were resolved to hold their new found mates with love’s own bonds; and the men fearing to lose such beautiful treasures were ever kind. There was a little doubt in the minds of all concerning De June’s commission as Justice of the Peace, and then certain requirements of the divorce courts had not been fully met, but these irregularities put all on their good behavior. For it is a fact that if a mortal knows that his mate cannot get away he is often severe and unreasonable. And the curious part of all this is that the story is true. Mr. Cudahy protests it on his honor, and declares that these sixteen worthy couples laid the foundation for the elite of Denver society, and are now the leading lights in that beautiful city. The story is somewhat marred by such ungrammatical expressions as “has came,” “shouldn’t ought,” etc. There are also a needless number of French and Latin phrases, culled from a lexicon I fear, and a striving after Latin derivatives. It is also a pity that more pains was not taken with the proof reading, as exasperating errors are on nearly every page. Still these are minor points. In the last four chapters there is considerable symbolism, which one cannot but wish had been put in plain English. Like Zangwill’s _The Master_, the moral is left for the last. It is a little clouded, but I take it that Mr. Cudahy believes that civilization’s plan of selection is very faulty. He suggests indirectly that Congress should appoint Matrimonial Commissioners for each district—men of discretion, experience and judgment. The Commissioner is to select from society sixteen marriageable young women and place them in a room, and then take a like number of young men and let them make a rush, and this, says Mr. Cudahy, would doubtless do away with many of our matrimonial misfits. Lovers of literature will look anxiously for Mr. Cudahy’s next book, and in the meantime I am sure that the Young Decadents will reap a rich harvest from _The Pawns of Chance_. I am in receipt of a letter from the distinguished author wherein he says that he is positively declining all invitations to lecture in the provinces, but that he may appear late in the season in a few of our principal cities. It may interest the Philistines to know that R. G. Dun & Co. rate Mr. Cudahy Z Z xxx 1, while Hobart Chatfield-Chatfield Taylor is only Y x 2 3·4 and Mrs. Reginald De Koven ranks K x 4. At the present moment I can recall but two residents of Grub Street who have ratings so high as Mr. Cudahy, these being William Waldorf Astor and Walter Blackburn Harte. ELBERT HUBBARD.