15 AUGUST 1903, Page 24

but the disagreeable people are painted in an unrelieved shade

of black, which makes them rather difficult to believe in. The heroine is nicer as a child than as a woman, but far be it from the present writer to say that this is not generally true to life. As already said, the Bishop is the pleasantest person depicted; but perhaps the unfortunate rector's confidential man- servant, George, runs him hard.