10 MAY 1930, Page 26

• Ritchie proved her worth as an observer, and in

her second she displays the same careful faculty. She has a knack of describ- ing the small details of life, and at the same time keeping her readers aware of the larger issues. Tier story of British Occu- pation in Germany is slight but without frailty : in it she tells the experiences of a young girl, the -Coroners -daughter, Who comes straight from a convent school to join her father, shows her effect on men, already diversely affected by war, and describes her delicate reactions to their various methods Of approach. Miss Ritchie writes with an exquisite simplicity about this collection of English people : there is not one false note in a book so quiet that' one may say Of the author, "her strength is to be still."