Hauntings. By Vernon Leo. (John Lane. Ss. 6d. net.)—These "hauntings
" by " Vernon Lee" are indeed, as the author describes them, fantastic stories, and most romantic and delightful reading they prove. The first one, " Amour Dure," in which a wicked Renaissance lady revisits the scenes of her former misdeeds, is particularly weird and impressive. Tho passion of the nineteenth- century gentleman for the sixteenth-century lady is entirely con- vincing, and .the reader will give a convulsive shudder at the dreadful ending of the story. This is very much the best " haunting " in the book, though the others are eccentric enough. to please most people. But it is less difficult to believe something fantastic concerning the people of the Renaissance than to believe that Aphrodite herself should come to the earth in the form of a child, or that a groat and supremely wicked singer should drive an unfortunate musician mad through his ghostly wiles. There is enough imagination in these short stories to furnish any number of present-day novels, and people with strong nerves who enjoy thrills can be unhesitatingly recommended to read the book.
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