We have to carefully watch him, for he has
developed suicidal tendencies.'

The lunatic makes a dash at the retreating form of his visitors, and, as
the door closes upon him, sinks with a yell upon the floor.

A week later the lifeless body of Brown, the medium, is found suspended
from the gas bracket in his cell.

How clearly one sees it all! How forcible and direct the style is! And
what a thrilling touch of actuality the simple mention of the 'gas
bracket' gives us! Certainly The Vasty Deep is a book to be read.

And we have read it; read it with great care. Though it is largely
autobiographical, it is none the less a work of fiction and, though some
of us may think that there is very little use in exposing what is already
exposed and revealing the secrets of Polichinelle, no doubt there are
many who will be interested to hear of the tricks and deceptions of
crafty mediums, of their gauze masks, telescopic rods and invisible silk
threads, and of the marvellous raps they can produce simply by displacing
the peroneus longus muscle! The book opens with a description of the
scene by the death-bed of Alderman Parkinson. Dr. Josiah Brown, the
eminent medium, is in attendance and tries to comfort the honest merchant
by producing noises on the bedpost. Mr. Parkinson, however, being
extremely anxious to revisit Mrs. Parkinson, in a materialised form after
death, will not be satisfied till he has received from his wife a solemn
promise that she will not marry again, such a marriage being, in his
eyes, nothing more nor less than bigamy. Having received an assurance to
this effect from her, Mr. Parkinson dies, his soul, according to the
medium, being escorted to the spheres by 'a band of white-robed spirits.'
This is the prologue. The next chapter is entitled 'Five Years After.'
Violet Parkinson, the Alderman's only child, is in love with Jack Alston,
who is 'poor, but clever.' Mrs. Parkinson, however, will not hear of any
marriage till the deceased Alderman has materialised himself and given
his formal consent. A seance is held at which Jack Alston unmasks the
medium and shows Dr. Josiah Brown to be an impostor--a foolish act, on
his part, as he is at once ordered to leave the house by the infuriated
Mrs. Parkinson, whose faith in the Doctor is not in the least shaken by
the unfortunate exposure.

The lovers are consequently parted. Jack sails for Newfoundland, is
shipwrecked and carefully, somewhat too carefully, tended by 'La-ki-wa,
or the Star that shines,' a lovely Indian maiden who belongs to the tribe
of the Micmacs. She is a fascinating creature who wears 'a necklace
composed of thirteen nuggets of pure gold,' a blanket of English
manufacture and trousers of tanned leather. In fact, as Mr. Stuart
Cumberland observes, she looks 'the embodiment of fresh dewy morn.' When
Jack, on recovering his senses, sees her, he naturally inquires who she
is. She answers, in the simple utterance endeared to us by Fenimore
Cooper, 'I am La-ki-wa. I am the only child of my father, Tall Pine,
chief of the Dildoos.' She talks, Mr. Cumberland informs us, very good
English.