The Wind in the Rose Bush. By Mary E. Wilkins.
(John Murray. 6s.)—When opening a book by Miss Wilkins, the last thing the reader expects is that she will "freeze his young blood," or "make his two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres"; but this is just what will happen to him during the perusal of The Wind in the Rose Bush. There is something horrifying about the ghosts which belong to a new country and new houses. They are too recent. The ghost which lived three hunt dred years ago is a piece of picturesque " property " enriching the scene of an old and historic house. But to find among us the modern spirit, already returned from the bourn to which he only travelled some time last year, is not to be borne. Miss Wilkins's ghosts are all intolerable just in this way. The wind which blows about the rose-bush on a calm day, the dreadful child who brings back to their owners articles left about the house, the wicked old woman whose face is reflected in the looking-glass, replacing that of the woman who looks in,—each and all signify the return of the recently dead. Miss Wilkins writes with such calm and deliberate detail that she goes far towards convincing her readers of the truth of each story in turn ; and he will be a bold man who, finishing the book late at night, will go to bed without glancing several times behind him.
Previous page
