MINUET AND FOX-TROT. By Agnes and Egerton Castle. (Hutchinson. 7s.
6d. net.)—There are a dozen short stories in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Castle continue to be well-bred and readable, and though seldom inordinately thril- ling, they are never actually dull. These collaborators are distinguished by many of the qualities which go to make Mrs. Katharine Tynan a respected as well as a popular authoress. They find it possible, for instance, to take a benevolent view of htunan nature without entirely neglecting that modern "problem of evil" the subconscious mind. Such a safe and courteous philosophical compromise must be one of the greatest assets of a- popular writer : the pity of the pessimist disconcerts our pride, but the sympathy of the meliorist exhorts and exalts, like a tactful sermon. Mr. and Mrs. Castle need not fear for their public ; it is bound to them by a tic more subtle and romantic than mutual benefit.
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