The Mystery of the Bea. By Bram Stoker. (W. Heinemann.
6s.)—Mr. Bram Stoker in his new novel omits no element to- ., Harrow up thy soul ; freeze thy young blood ; Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres;
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine."
The glances of the seer, the sight of a shroud tightly wound round an unconscious gentleman's body, a buried treasure, ghostly apparitions, a kidnapping, and a comfortable amount of killing,— such are the principal ingredients of this blood-curdling romance. There are plenty of "trimmings" in the shape of secret passages, rising tides, caves, &c., and although perhaps "the butter's spread too thick," still the tangle is generally well managed, and every now and then the reader contrives to get a thrill. The moral of the book is as follows. If you are an American million.airess and your Embassy gets a hint of a desperado's plot to capture you, do not set all your energies to preventing the said Embassy affording you proper protection. Above all, do not sit alone at night in a castle in Scotland which you know quite well is honeycombed with secret passages. The scrimmage at the end of the book takes a great deal of believing, but the ends of justice are miraculously attained, and the book, as is essential to a work of this kind, ends with the discomfiture of the wicked and the great prosperity of the hero and heroine.
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