n the galaxy. I have no space to indicate
what turns of this glittering kaleidoscope eventually bring _Sylvia_
and _Michael_ together during the Serbian retreat, though there are
scenes upon which I should like to dwell, notably that of the death
of _Guy Hazlewood_, an incident whose admirable restraint shows Mr.
MACKENZIE at his best. One question I have to ask, and that is how
has _Sylvia_ learnt to imitate so bewilderingly the mannerisms of
_Michael_? Her soliloquies especially might have come straight from
the first volume of _Sinister Street_, so much more do they suggest
the cloistered adolescence of Carlington Road than a development from
her own feverish youth. While I cannot pretend that she has for me the
compelling vitality of _Jenny Pearl_, her adventures certainly make
(for those who are not too nice about the morals or the conversation
of their company) an exhilarating, even intoxicating entertainment,
the end of which is, I am glad to think, still remote.

* * * * *

The publishers, in their preface to Mr. HUGH SPENDER'S new novel, _The
Seekers_ (COLLINS), led me to believe that it was written with the
object of denouncing the dangers and the frauds of spiritualism. This,
however, is by no means the case. To be sure the first few chapters do
contain an account of a _seance_, which serves not so much to lay
bare the mysteries of spiritualism as to bring together a few of the
characters in the novel. From that point onward there is nothing
more about spooks, save for an occasional reference. It is when the
_dramatis personae_ have been well collected in and about a Yorkshire
vicarage that things really get a move on and begin to hum. No reader
is entitled to complain of a lack of excitement; the mortality,
indeed, is almost Shakspearean. _Rudge_, a medium, who must not be
confused with our old friend, _Mr. Sludge_, perishes in a snowstorm.
_John Havering_ batters in the head of _Hubert Kenyon_, and later
on commits suicide, while _Beaufort_, a Labour leader, is wrongfully
charged with the murder of _Hubert_ and barely escapes with his life.
Everything however ends comparatively well, owing to a strong female
interest. Mr. SPENDER is usually a careful workman, but sometimes his
sentences get the better of him. Here is one such: "She wondered if
Peter, who must have seen Mary as he came into the vicarage disappear
into the study, had gone in, hoping to find her there as he left