26 DECEMBER 1885, Page 23

Lindenblumen, and other Stories. By Rowland Grey. (Kegan Paul, Trench,

and Co.)—Here are five stories, the scenes of which are laid in foreign countries. The first is "Madame Rebelle," and is described as "an episode of the war of 1871." The second, "The Doctor's Mascotte" (Masootte being a fairy that gives one one's wishes), is a very pleasing little story, told by a doctor, of a pro- fessional experience that has a very happy ending, though not without its element of sadness. The story from which the volume takes its title is the longest, but not, we think, the best. There is a certain weird effectiveness about it ; but it does not please. "The Antwerp Postman" is, perhaps, the best of the five. It is a vigorous sketch of life and manners, and the main incident on which the plot turns, though, indeed, the plot is not very logically developed, is, doubtless, taken from real life. An old postman, with a sort of peculiar klepto- mania upon him, secretes letters, the disappearance of which causes no little disturbance in the course of various life-histories.