PAN AND THE LITTLE GREEN GATE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 72

PAN AND THE LITTLE GREEN GATE.

By Sylvia Brett. London : Messrs Hodder and Stoughton. Dunedin : Messrs R. J. Stark and Co. This ie a . collection of short stories •which have appeared from time to time in some of the leading English newspapers and magazines, a fact which of itself proves that as short stories they poeisess considerable merit. Some readers do not care for short stories collected in book form, but on the other hand there are compensating advantages inasmuch' as the busy man or th.3 traveller can find the time to read one ov tveo of the stories at a time. Several of the stories are about children, and some are love stories pure and simple, but all are well written and worth reading — a* light literature. THE GOVERNORS. By E. Phillips Oppexhkiji. London : Messrs Ward, Lock and Co. Dunedin : Messrs R. J. Stark and Co. (Illustrated.) " The Governors " is a stoiy of high finance in Xew York and love and it is almost unnecessary to say that it is well and interestingly "written. Some of the incidents appear somewhat improbable, but when the personages concerned are multi-millionaires, it in probably not wise to apply to their doings the ordinary standards. Pluneas Duge, who is associated in his deals with four other millionaires, having forbidden the house to hr* daughter for giving away some of 'hie secrete to her lover, an altruistic journalist, sends for his niece, the daughter of -a struggling farmer, to pieside over his house, and also to leceive some of his confidence. Suspecting that his associates are playing him false, he entraps them intc signing a document agreeing by corruption to kill an anti-triiot measure which i"5 being promoted. The document which, by a trick, he managed to evade &ignmg himself, is tangible proof of a conspiracy punishable by law, is entrusted to the niece for safe keeping. Duge's associates realising too late its dangerous nature, scruple at nothing in their efforts to regain possession of it. The discarded daughter, by a combination of effrontery and force, secures the incriminatory document, and passes it on to her lover, who has now an opportunity of making a tremendous "scoop." But learning that in striking at the millionaires he is likely to cause a panic that will involve hundreds of innocent people in ruin, he decides to proceed to London and con Milt with his friend, the Minister to St. James. Duge has no room for failures, and the niece, realising that she will not be restoied to favour and, worst of all, that the assistance to her people will be withdrawn, determines to recover the document and follows the journalist to London. On the voyage, an English duke, travelling incognito, makes fo-er acquaintance, and, of couiee, falls in love. The millionaire associates are also on the track of the journalist, -and .the reader is kept on t enter hooks as to vhether they or the niece will succeed in getting possession of a document for which a million dollars is offered, or whether the journalistic ' ' scoop may not come off. Duge, the master mind, having biought his associates to their knees, also visits London. To tell how the document is again stolen, a.nd by whom, or how the love affair of the diikt progressed, or how the complication

has a satisfactory ending, wCuJd be trnfeir. Those who delight^ in a mildly sensational novel Tvill not be disappointed if they procure a copy of "The Governors" for reading during the few hours snatched from business affairs.