ork, _Beasts and Super-Beasts_ (LANE), is as good as any
of its predecessors. Clothed in the elegant garments of _Clovis_ or
_Reginald_, Mr. MUNRO makes plain to us how lovely this world might be
were we only a little bolder about our practical jokes. In the art
of introducing bears into the boudoir of a countess or pigs into the
study of a diplomat, and then clinching the matter with the wittiest
of epigrams, _Clovis_ is supreme. He knows, too, an immense amount
about the vengeance that children may take upon their relations,
and ladies upon their lady friends. I like him especially when he
manoeuvres some stupid but kind-hearted woman into a situation of
whose peril she herself is only cloudily aware, while the reader knows
all about it. That is the fun of the whole thing. The reader is for
ever assisting _Clovis_ and _Reginald_; in the course of their daring
adventures he connives from behind curtains, through key-holes, from
ambushes in trees, and always, whilst the poor creature is being
harried by wild boars or terrified by menacing kittens, _Clovis_ may
be observed, with finger on lip, begging of the intelligent reader
that he will not give things away. Of the present collection of
stories I like best "A Touch of Realism," "The Byzantine Omelette,"
"The Boar-Pig," and "The Dreamer;" but all are good, and I can only
hope that it will not be too long before _Clovis_ once again invites
us to further delightful conspiracies.

* * * * *

_Ars est celara artem_, and not to define and emphasise it in a
foreword to the reader. The motive of _The Last Shot_ (CHAPMAN AND
HALL) appears in due course in the narrative; I would have preferred
to discover it gradually for myself rather than have the essence of
it extracted and poured into me in advance. The preface has not the
excuse of a mere advertisement; to open this book at any point is to
read the whole, and every page is the strongest possible incentive
to the reading of the others. If (as is not admitted) any personal
explanation was necessary, it should have been put at the end and in
small type so that those who, like myself, detest explanations might
have avoided this one. I am the more severe about this, because
there can be no two opinions as to Mr. FREDERICK PALMER'S success
in achieving his purpose, which, obviously, was to conceive modern
warfare as between two First-class Powers, fighting in the midst of
civilisation, and to red