Mr. Kipling has written tales of magic in
which there is no horror, just as he has written
tales of horror in which the supernatural plays

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no part. One that much impressed M. Chev-
rillon, but that I think scarce worthy of the
praise he lavishes upon it, is called The Finest
Story in the World, and tells of a yoimg bank
clerk, who has been in previous incarnations a
galley-slave in Greek and Viking ships, and
who, in a sort of trance, remembers his ex-
periences. Eventually he falls in love, and
love at once drives from his soul the recol-
lections that the narrator has been drawing
from him painfully, little by little. So the
greatest story in the world is never finished.
Somewhat similar is Wireless, the story
taking its name from the fact that the central
theme is interwoven with an account of some
experiments in the then novel wireless
telegraphy. A young consumptive, a chemist's
assistant placed in circumstances resembling
those of Keats, of whom he has never heard,
is in some way imbued with his spirit, and, in
a trance, writes portions of The Eve of St.
Agnes and the Ode to a Nightingale. The story
is well told, but it is surely a weakness that
the man should write down his ideas in the
exact words of Keats.
