H. C. T. =The Carlyles.= By Mrs. Burton Harrison. D. Appleton & Co., New York. In “The Carlyles” Mrs. Burton Harrison relinquishes the modern field which she has occupied for so long and with such marked success, and goes back to Civil War times for the scenes of her story. The Reconstruction period has been covered by innumerable writers. Indeed, it has been so frequently used by novelists and proven so fruitful a field, that one is apt to be overcome at the courage of an author who selects it now as the background for a tale; but Mrs. Harrison brings a certain freshness and charm to a subject that, it would seem, could inspire none. The opening chapter, which describes the impoverished condition of the _Carlyles_, brought on by the ravages of war, reveals the author at her best, and shows her intimate knowledge of life in Richmond in the ’60’s. The splendid fortitude of old _Mr. Carlyle_ in the face of his calamity and financial ruin, and the pride of the aristocratic Southerner are depicted with faultless art. The story itself is the old one of a girl who is unable to choose between two lovers, one of whom, of course, is a Yankee soldier and the other a Southerner fighting as a lieutenant-colonel under Lee. The usual complications occur. _Lancelot Carlyle_, a cousin and lover of _Mona_, the heroine, is imprisoned at Fort Delaware, and of the long period of his confinement Mrs. Harrison writes graphically, describing minutely the terrible ordeal of prison life. Fine as this portion of the novel is, however, it is in the chapters dealing with quiet domestic scenes that Mrs. Harrison writes with most force and distinction. The incident of the Christmas dinner-party, with the unheralded return of _Lancelot_ and the sudden death of old _Alexius Carlyle_, is handled with consummate skill. The author has written no finer passage in any of her previous novels, nor one more certain to move her readers to tears. H. C. T. =The House of Mirth.= By Edith Wharton. Charles Scribner’s Sons.