I quite realise that I have not the shadow of a case against Mr. ALGERNON BLACKWOOD. He frankly calls his book _Ten Minute Stories_ (MURRAY), and that is exactly what they are. Nevertheless I did feel a little aggrieved when each of them stopped with a jerk just as I had become absorbed. One has a sense of having been cheated of one's rights. That is why, though many of these sketches are as good as they can be, I do not think that the book will be quite so popular as others of his. But devout Blackwoodsmen will add it to their collections and re-read the majority of its contents again and again, as I propose to do. On second thoughts, indeed, I may say that perhaps Mr. BLACKWOOD is not so unfair to his public as I have suggested, for he is one of those writers who are not dead and done with after a first perusal. He can pack a vast deal of food for thought even into a ten-minute story. A good example of what I mean is to be found in number fifteen of the collection, "Ancient Lights." Even a scene-shifter at the Savoy Theatre would believe in fairies after one reading of that. And if, after studying "If the Cap Fits," you lightly steal a fellow-member's hat from your club, I shall regard you as a very reckless dashing fellow. With the awful example of _Field-Martin_ before me, I would not do it for a fortune. I shall buy one of those frightful plush hats which you see in shops but never out of them, and I shall have my name in large letters on the inside band. And to the hat-waiter's insidious "This is just as good, Sir," as he offers me some sinister bowler or topper with a past, I shall reply with gestures of disgust and threats to write to the committee. * * * * * "Detached 7-roomed horse wanted."--_The Norbury Weekly News._ Where is your one-stalled ox now? * * * * * Transcriber's Note: Page 161: 'Deutches' is as printed. Alternative spelling (Wikipedia) "Herr REINHARDT'S Deutches Theater" Page 174: 'beleagured' corrected to 'beleaguered'. "likened to a beleaguered garrison," Page 174: 'lose' corrected to 'loose'. "A bull has got loose in the china" Page 174: 'privonces' is as printed. (A 'Punch' joke: Metrolopis).