The Little Company of Ruth. By Annie E. Holdsworth. (Methuen
and Co. 6s.)—Ruth Dimsdale is a gardener's daughter to whom an old lady, moved partly by associations with her name, partly by real appreciation of her qualities, bequeaths her pro- perty. (Is it not something of an affectation when a woman of twenty-eight who has not lived in the wilderness thinks that the lawyer means flowers when he speaks to her of "stocks," and ploughshares when he mentions "shares " ?) Then comes the trial of her life. $ow is she, a daughter of the people, to bear herself in her new position ? There are men who would gladly get hold of her property; women, jealous or scornful; a companion whom for a while she regards as part of her inheritance ; and a mutinous establishment of servants. And there is a love trouble. Roger Cartwright has held off till he can provide her with the maintenance which he regards as her due, and now he holds off because she has wealth and he is poor. Both these threads of the story are well managed ; we are inclined to prefer the treatment of the first; the strength which is hidden beneath the shy, shrinking exterior asserts itself in a very natural way. As for Roger, he is just a little perverse.
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