19 JUNE 1886, Page 28

The Loadetone of Love. By Jean Middlemass. (F. V. White

and Co.)—This is a well-told story of a mysterious disappearance. The weak spot is the motive which made the " Gipsy " abduct Colonel Grantley's daughter. We do not believe in revenge as an adequate cause for such a risk, while the idea of ransom is scarcely within the limits of the possible. In other respects, Miss Middlemass has done her work well ; the reader is kept in suspense, and when he comes to the denouement, has no reason to complain that he has been taken in by false pretences. The suggestion, too, of the title that there is a magnetic iofluonce which may draw a lover to the place where he is most wanted, is skilfully put. It is hinted rather than stated. If it had been made part of the machinery of the plot, incredulity would have been challenged; as it is, the most sceptical reader will approve.