27 AUGUST 1927, Page 24

FAINT AMORIST. By Elizabeth Sprigge. (Knopf. 7s. 6d. net.)—This is

a story of a pair of very modern young people who arrange their affairs so as to endeavour to enjoy a sentimental love affair without running the risk of its turning into a vulgar intrigue. Needless to say, this system of letting ' " I dare not " wait upon " I will " does not answer, and results in an intolerable situation for everyone. The man, Hugh Dean, is not at all an attractive figure, and the reader ' will be inclined to put down his sensitiveness to public opinion, -.in the matter of inducing his wife to divorce him, to cowardice ' rather than to moral scruples. Sabrina Orden, the girl, is well , drawn as warm-hearted and generous, and the reader will „ think her exceedingly foolish not to have married the other man—an adventurer and traveller in far countries—who falls desperately in love with her about the middle of her intrigue with Hugh. Sticklers for the old morality will not find the book pleasant reading; though the group of minor characters is well drawn and cleverly differentiated.