FICTION.
IN this collection of short stories Mr. Neil Munro reveals himself in various moods. Three of the eleven tales end in tragedy, Aeschylean in its black intensity in "Young Pennymore " ; while "The Brooch" is a Scots variant on the story of the ring of Polycrates. In others tragic possibilities are turned to comedy by an unexpected twist, as in the striking story of the respectable factor who in a moment of madness responded to the call of the blood, relapsed into a " Hielan Cateran " and cattle-lifter, only to be suddenly recon- verted to sobriety and decorum by his wife's stratagem. "The Isle of Elusion "is pure romance, a sea-idyll of a honeymoon cruise in which husband and wife are estranged and reunited by enchantment. Cross-purposes arising out of an exchange of personalities form the motive of "Jaunty Jock" and "The Scottish Pompadour " ; the element of the unexpected plays a large part in "The Tudor Cup," a duel between a Scots Baronet and a firm of Bond Street dealers, in which Jewry comes off a very bad second. " Copenhagen " is an affectionate study of an old schoolmaster who had served in the Navy, an eccentric but inspiring and generous instructor of youth ; and another study in dualism is that of the artist who had carried the drums in the Peninsula. But whatever the theme, whether he is writing of the Children or grandchildren of the Mist, of old Edin- burgh, or of the Scotland of yesterday or to-day, Mr. Munro shows a keen sense of the "old romantics," a gift for suggesting atmosphere, and an artistry of style which lift his work high out of the common, run and place him among the best of the followers of Stevenson.
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