29 NOVEMBER 1930, Page 33

THE EMPTY HOUSE. By Algernon Blackwood. (Nash and Grayson. 75.

Odd—Mr. Blackwood's ghost stories, of which this book (a netv edition) contains ten, present diflicul-' ties to the sceptic. Most of us can enjoy a ghost story in which an apparently psychical incident is supplied at the end with a rationalistic explanation. But Mr. Blackwood's tales are not, as a rule, of that kind, and we are not sure whether he expects us to take his ghosts seriously, or whether he aims at mere entertainment. At all events, he is a master of eerie atmosphere, and even the sceptic is susceptible at times to that. Most of us, like Dr. Johnson, do not believe in ghosts. But most of us, again like him, are (given the right setting) a little afraid of them