The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-11-24
"NfISSING."

tispiece by c. Allan Gilbert. Dodd,
 Mead x Co, publishers, New York city.
 One of the most interesting of all the war stories'' written recently is Missing" by Mrs. Humphrey Ward. Although very pathetic and appealing in its theme. it is nevertheless strong
 and virile showing many interesting | incidents in the life of the young sol dier in the trenches, and as everybody l IS interested mainly in the war and nothing else nowadays, the book will
 undoubtedly be read by many thou
 sands of Mrs Wards admirers and fol- lowers.
 Missing opens with the coming of Nelly and George Sarratt to the little Westmoreland lodging house where Nelly and her elder sisted Bridget had often stayed during their fathers life time, and near which she and George had first met. Bridget, the hard, ur- sympathetic Bridget, is waiting there for them, though with no very cordial welcome. She had not at all approved of the match; George had only a very little money, the sisters even less, and Rridget's great hope had been that Nelly would marry rich man. For Nelly was beautiful; small and exquis ite. soft and sweet and kissable; pliant, LOO, in temper, naturally indolent, hat ing "disa greement or friction of any kind" she usually yielded to Bridget was usually ready "to give in.' But
 for all her weakness, she had stood firm on this one point: she had mar
 ried George Sarratt. And so Bridget awaited them in no very happy mood.
 But before they even saw her they met and talked with Sir William Farrell the cultured. enormously rich, distin- guished and somewhat dillettanteish owner of magnificent Carton Hail.
 With the clue provided by the title. the ordinarily intelligent reader has fairly accurate idea of the plot of thls novel by the time he has finished the first chapter.
 The most interesting parts of the book are the occasional glimpses 1t gives of England and the English at war, glimpses few and very brief. We wish there were more of them. and
 could easily have dispensed with some of the very numerous descriptions of Lake7 country scenery, graceful though many of them are for the sake of sec
 ing more of the war conditions. of having more bits like the talk of the old country woman whose only son had been killed Two Conscientious ob- jectors'' had been sent to help her hus- band with his farm work. but though
 they of course left just when they might ha' been O. soom real service she did not want them back. to sit there in the place of her boy-her boy whom, dearly as she loved him. she would rather know dead than living and like one of these Though she ap- pears but for a moment, she is by all odds the most vivid as well as the most appealing character in the book, with the possible exception of the man who was reported missing"
 HONG LIVE THE KING
 By Mary Roberts Rfnehart Illustrated
 by Arthur Beecher Houghton, Mfr
 fin & O. Publishers, Boston.
 Mary Roberts Rinehart, in her latest novel, Long Live the King has chosen for her hero a youngster, who IS likely to go down in fiction as the most popular hero since Little Lord Fauntle- roy.
 Combining, as Mrs. Rinehart does, in Long Live the King all the romance, the mystery, the cunning and the brll- lianey that she has employed in her many successful previous stories, she has perhaps reached the highest pinnacle of her fame In this very attractive story
 Choosing the romantic country tucked away IoOnlSWHeIc III oPc, e.bN f'ANN~ famous by 'The Prisoner of zenda," Mrs Rinehart introduces us to little Otto-the crown prince of the kingdom of Lavonia.
 The youngster is only 10 years of age when we meet him and the neces- sity of being brought up along the lines for a crown prince makes it impossible for him to be real boy, a 1o-year-old boy, at the same time. His heart longs for a dog. all his own. But he cannot have dog. So, "I have many friends, he says, with sigh, and l suppose don't really need dog."< And he con- forts his heart with much used cloth dog with shoe button eyes, It Is not nearly so lonely going to sleep at night, after his valet has put him to bed. if he shares his pillow with the cloth dog. But comes a day, and after awhile an other day, when he finds liberty, and has some happy hours in the company and the home of a small American boy, whose father is running scenic railway, and who has no notion of the identity of the playmate he picks up. For Otto they are golden hours indeed. But they come near to costing him his crown, and they bring Hateful results to many of the people in the story and they cause an immense amounteof excitement.
 in which the reader has his full share, Small Otto, by reason of them, learns to admire Abraham Lincoln very much, and he acquires Lincoln penny, which thereafter becomes his most treasured possession.
 Mrs Rinehart has portrayed the char acter of the little crown prince with truth to small boy nature, with much tenderness, and with insight and skill. But he is, after all, only factor in the story, which is really concerned with the plots and counterplots that weave and circle round his small unconscious frame For the old King, his grand father, is near death, there is group of terrorists who are seeking by violence to overthrow the monarchy, there is a faction that wishes to put Otto's girl cousin on the throne, there is a party that wants alliance with the King of Kar- mia, and all these are busily at work to achieve each its own desires by the time the old King dies. They want, some of them, possession of the crown prince, and therefore his safety Is of great inn portance to the party of the King. A pretty and tender love story is inter- woven with all these plottings, and emo | tions and sentiments of many kinds come into play as the story progresse. l Mrs. Rinehart has never woven a plot
 mere skillfully than this, nor one of greater complication. Doubtless most of
 her admirers will account this the best 1 novel that has come from her pen SILVER HEELS
 l By Gabrielle F. Jackson George II. 1 Doran Co., Publishers. New York. | Most of Mrs. Gabrielle E. Jackson s l stories were originally ,written to please her small daughter. It was quite by 'l chance that they were eventually l brought to the attention of Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge. then editor of St. Nicholas