30 APRIL 1892, Page 11

The Three Boots. By W. H. Stacpoole. (Dean and Son.)—The

opening chapter of Mr. Stacpoole's story shows his knowledge of Stock Exchange life and its fascinations ; and it appropriately ends with a stockbroker's suicide. All this is well done, and so is the succeeding mystery of the "lodger with the three boots," surely a most terrifying puzzle to the ordinary housekeeper. This, and the incident of another-lodger's attempt to fathom the mystery, and subsequent severe fright for his meddling, make up an amusing and sprightly written narrative.