So faithful is the author to this undertaking that he
practically keeps his expert hanging about with the unenlightened
crowd, while another character, in light-hearted amateur enthusiasm,
does all the work. But of course, in a tale of this kind, the only
thing that really matters is the one question of spotting the
criminal, or who killed Cock Robin. Naturally I am not going to spoil
your fun over this by any officious whisperings. As you probably know,
the one safe rule in such matters is to concentrate upon Caesar's wife;
and even in repeating this antique maxim I may have betrayed too
much. Forget it, and you may find what happened _In the Night_
a sufficiently intriguing problem to provide a pleasant bedtime
entertainment that will leave your subsequent repose unimpaired.
In deciding to add to what one may call the fiction of Metropolitan
Adventures, whereof _The New Arabian Nights_ may be regarded as both
the model and the prototype, the author of _The London Nights
of Belsize_ (LANE) has undertaken a task which is both easy and
difficult--easy because a sophisticated style and a lively imagination
are the only essential qualifications, and difficult because it
involves competition with a perfect galaxy of distinguished authors.
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