15 SEPTEMBER 1923, Page 20

This book contains, like all Mr. Eric Leadbitter's work, delightful

descriptions of the English countryside and its inhabitants. The picture of 'Rose, the heroine, seduced in mind if not in fact, by the attractive young mechanic, is excellently drawn, and Charley Duke, an old friend and good angel, whom she -marries, is a fine study. The last chapter is terribly moving, and even the most bitter opponent of the conventional happy ending will be inclined to wish the author had been more merciful to the unfortunate Charley racked with unanswerable doubts. The reader feels that it is most unlikely that Rose would ever achieve the only solution— a complete explanation of all that had, and had not, happened.