She goes on to analyze his character, to find the secret of his power, but can arrive at no conclusion. In time she finds him out, and in the end it is her spirit of goodness that overcomes his spirit of evil. It is a thrilling story, the secret of which is not unfolded until the last chapter is reached.

"The Moonstone" is by all odds the most popular of the novels, and it is well worth reading. It deals with the theft of a celebrated diamond known as the moonstone, a famous gem in the annals of India which once adorned the forehead of the moon god in the holy city of Benares. When that city was captured by the Mohammedans the gem passed to them, and then it passed from one lawless hand to another, until the British conquests at last brought it into the possession of Major Herncastle, an English officer. Many superstitions were connected with the ownership of this splendid diamond, and the story opens with the return of the Herncastle family to England with the diamond in their possession. Simultaneously several Indian Brahmins appear in the neighborhood of the Herncastle home. Then follow the most dramatic situations and experiences, and a struggle for the possession of the diamond, and we hang upon the varying for

tunes of the actors with the keenest interest. Most of the characters are not much more than lay figures, but the detective, Sergeant Cuff, and the old servant, Gabriel Betteridge, are very lifelike.

"No Name" is also a finished story and has many charms. Captain Wragge is a confidence man of the most excellent sort, who keeps a regular book account of his rascalities. To him Magdalen Vanstone applies to obtain assistance in a scheme requiring more or less of underhand work, for which she pays him liberally. The interest of the story centers in the game, openly played, between Magdalen, assisted by the captain, and Mrs. Lecount, the housekeeper of Noel Vanstone. It is one of the most original as well as one of the most fascinating chapters in the story. Noel Vanstone, who has inherited the fortune that should have gone to Magdalen and her sister, is the prize of the contest, and Magdalen finally wins. Noel offers her marriage, and this is what she has been scheming for. But no sooner does she realize what she has done than, filled with doubts and fears, she rushes to end all by suicide. From this, too, she starts back, and finally determines that chance shall settle the question. She is sitting by an open window,

looking out upon the sea, watching a little fleet of coasting vessels sailing by. If in half an hour an even number of vessels passed she would live; if an odd number, she would die.

With that final resolution she rested her head against the window and waited for the ships to pass. Two minutes to the end of the half-hour and seven ships. Twentynine and nothing followed in the wake of the seventh ship. The minute hand of the watch moved on halfway to thirty, and still the white, heaving sea was a misty blank. Without moving her head from the window she took the poison in one hand and raised the watch in the other. As the quick seconds counted each other out, her eyes, as quick as they, looked from the watch to the sea, from the sea to the watch-looked for the last time to the sea--and saw the eighth ship. She never moved, she never spoke. The death of thought, the death of feeling, seemed to have come to her already. She put back the poison mechanically on the ledge of the window and watched as in a dream the ship gliding smoothly on its silent way-gliding until it melted into shadow-gliding until it was lost in the mist.

This is a good specimen of Wilkie Collins' style.

"Armadale " comes next to "No Name" in interest and popular favor, while its plot is the most intricate of any of the novels. It will easily hold any reader until long past midnight, but for persons of sensitive nerves it is by no means a midnight story.

LADY CAROLINE NORTON.

(1808-1877.)

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, in writing to his wife from London in 1858, tells of his meeting with Lady Caroline Norton, and thus describes her:

She is rather above middle height. Her face is certainly extremely beautiful. The hair is raven black-—violet black— without a thread of silver. The eyes very large, with dark lashes, and black as death; the nose straight; the mouth flexible and changing; with teeth which in themselves would make the fortune of an ordinary face-such is her physiognomy; and when you add to this extraordinary poetic genius, descent from that famous Sheridan, who has made talent hereditary in his family, a low, sweet voice and a flattering manner, you can understand how she twisted men's heads off and hearts out, we will not be particular how many years ago.

In other of his letters, Mr. Motley dwells on the exceeding grace, beauty, wit and genius of Mrs. Norton, who showed the author of "The Dutch Republic" many kind attentions when he

was being lionized by London society after the publication of his history. At this time she was in her fiftieth year, but he says she did not look to be thirty. Indeed, she never did seem to grow old.

Tom Sheridan, the son of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, inherited his mother's beauty. He married a very beautiful woman and their three daughters became renowned in English society.

The eldest was Helen Selina, who married Henry Blackwood, afterward Lord Dufferin. The late Lord Dufferin was her son. The second daughter was Caroline Elizabeth, who married the Honorable George C. Norton; and the third was Georgina, who became the Duchess of Somerset, and at the famous Eglinton tournament was crowned the Queen of Beauty. The eldest and youngest were most happily married, but Lady Caroline's husband was a spendthrift and a brute, who abused her and took from her all the money she earned by her pen, frequently reducing her and her children to destitution. He was, besides, insanely jealous of her, and brought an action against Lord Melbourne on her account. In this he properly and justly failed, and in 1840 Mrs. Norton obtained a separation from him.

Fanny Kemble, who lived on terms of inti