30 JUNE 1894, Page 41

The Rich Miss Riddell. By Dorothea Gerard. (Blackwood and Sons.)—A

plain face, great riches, a sensitive nature, and a high ideal of what love should be,—these form a combination of cir- cumstances which make a woman's lot not a little hard to bear. How is she to find out whether she is loved for herself ? how is an honest man who does love her for herself to steel himself against the cruel suspicion that disappointed rivals will express, and even right-thinking and fairly charitable people can hardly help feeling, that it is the wealth and not the woman that attracts ? These make up the problem which Miss Gerard deals with in this story, and deals with as skilfully as usual. Miss Riddell is a fine study, and there is no little subtlety in the drawing of Fraiilein Norberg. We venture to think that the Duke's proposal is some- what more suited to farce than to the genteel comedy to which such a tale as this belongs.—Speedwell. By Lady Gwendolen Ramsden. (Bentley and Son.)—The easy style, the lively and even sparkling dialogue which are to be seen in this story are worthy of no little praise. The " society " tone is capitally caught. The very brisk Frida is nice to read about. But why, we ask for the fiftieth time, the melancholy end ?