STORIES NEAR AND FAR. By William J. Locke. (The Bodley
Head. 7s. 6d.)—A collection of stories by Mr. W. J. Locke is something of an event for those multitudes of readers who have enjoyed and reread his numerous novels. But the present volume proves a little disappointing : the tales are less of Mr. Locke and more of the typical magazine story. No doubt he needs the compass of a full-length novel to unfold the proper adventures of his gay wayfaring characters and delightful children. He has certainly given a personal lovableness to the much less than characteristic persons of these present tales, but the tales themselves are hackneyed ones retold without genius. The best is a Loekian story of Mr. Paradyne, a successful and dry-as-dust barrister, who suddenly breaks the shackles of the Bar and a family in Ealing to go gipsying in Latin lands, a pipe to his lips. It is always good to read of others doing what all of us secretly wish we could accomplish.
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