Why, even Billy Gerrish, a high-minded, public-spirited man like William B. Gerrish,--couldn't have his way about Northwick. No, sir; Northwick himself couldn't! Look how he fooled away his time there in Canada, after he got off with money enough to start him on the high road to fortune again. He couldn't budge of his own motion; and the only thing he really tried to do he failed in disgracefully. Adeline wouldn't let him stay when he come back to buy himself off; and that killed _her_. Then, when he started home again, to take his punishment, the first thing he did was to drop dead. Justice herself couldn't have her way with Northwick. But I'm not sorry he slipped through her fingers. There wasn't the stuff for an example in Northwick; I don't know that he's much of a warning. He just seems to be a kind of--incident; and a pretty common kind. He was a mere creature of circumstances--like the rest of us! His environment made him rich, and his environment made him a rogue. Sometimes I think there _was_ nothing to Northwick, except what happened to him. He's a puzzle. But what do you say, Doc, to a world where we fellows keep fuming and fizzing away, with our little aims and purposes, and the great ball of life seems to roll calmly along, and get where it's going without the slightest reference to what we do or don't do? I suppose it's wicked to be a fatalist, but I'll go a few æons of eternal punishment more, and keep my private opinion that it's all Fate." "Why not call it Law?" the doctor suggested. "Well, I don't like to be too bold. But taking it by and large, and seeing that most things seem to turn out pretty well in the end, I'll split the difference with you and call it Mercy." WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS'S NOVELS. THE QUALITY OF MERCY. AN IMPERATIVE DUTY. A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES. THE SHADOW OF A DREAM. ANNIE KILBURN. APRIL HOPES. BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. AS WE WERE SAYING. With Portrait, and Illustrated by H.W. MCVICKAR and Others. So dainty and delightsome a little book may it be everybody's good hap to possess.--_Evangelist_, N. Y. OUR ITALY. In this book are a little history, a little property, a few fascinating statistics, many interesting facts, much practical suggestion, and abundant humor and charm--_Evangelist_, N. Y. A LITTLE JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. A Novel. The vigor and vividness of the tale and its sustained interest are not its only or its chief merits. It is a study of American life of to-day, possessed with shrewd insight and fidelity.--GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. A powerful picture of that phase of modern life in which unscrupulously acquired capital is the chief agent.--_Boston Post._ STUDIES IN THE SOUTH AND WEST, with Comments on Canada. Perhaps the most accurate and graphic account of these portions of the country that has appeared, taken all in all.... A book most charming--a book that no American can fail to enjoy, appreciate, and highly prize.--_Boston Traveller._ THEIR PILGRIMAGE.