"The bride's mother was handsomely attired in heliotrope stain."--
_Canadian Paper._

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)

Whatever else may be said about Mr. ARTHUR COMPTON-RICKETT as a novelist,
it can at least be urged for him that he displays no undue apprehension of
the too-facile laugh. For example, the humorous possibilities (or perils)
in the plot of _The Shadow of Stephen Wade_ (JENKINS) might well have
daunted a writer of more experience. _Stephen Wade_ was an ancestor, dead
some considerable time before the story opens, and--to quote the old
jest--there was no complaint about a circumstance with which everybody was
well satisfied. The real worry over _Stephen_ was twofold: first, that in
life he had been rightly suspected of being rather more than a bit of a
rip, and secondly that his grandson, _Philip_, the hero of the story, had
what seemed to him good cause for believing that _Stephen's_ more
regrettable tendencies were being repeated in himself. Here, of course, is
a theme capable of infinite varieties of development; the tragedies of
heredity have kept novelists and dramatists busy since fiction began. The
trouble is that, all unconsciously, Mr. COMPTON-RICKETT has given to his
hero's struggles a fatally humorous turn. _Philip's_ initial mistake
appeared to be the supposition that safety could be secured by flight. But
it has been remarked before now that Cupid is winged and doth range.
_Philip_ dashed into the depths of Devonshire, only to discover that even
there farmers have pretty daughters; seeking refuge in the slums he found