Revenge ! By Robert Barr. (Chatto and Windus.)—This is a
collection of twenty short stories, mostly designed, one might say, to show that revenge is not, as some would maintain, an extinct passion. It has, on the contrary, a very lively existence, if Mr. Barr's narrative and characters are true to nature. They have certainly a very natural look. The author shows, as he has shown in earlier books, that he wields a very vigorous and graphic pen. A reader naturally gets a little weary of a monotony of horrors. Occasionally, therefore, we have a pleasant relief in something that is not tragic. "The Understudy" is a story of the brighter kind, and particularly good. Of the same kind is
"The Exposure of Lord Stansford." Lord Stansford is a decayed Peer who hires himself out to attend the parties of the nouveaux riches. The last of the twenty stories distinctly disfigures the book.
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