29 JANUARY 1898, Page 13

Only an Angel. By Francis Gribble. (A. D. Innes.)—There is

very little in this book, and it is not easy to say whether one

should take what there is seriously. But it is distinctly clever.

The paradoxical defence of idleness, for instance—the heroine dismisses the hero till he can show that he is one of the" world's workers "—is a good piece of writing. The paradox or irony is not always so well defined, but the author never fails in a quality that makes him eminently readable.