I should call Mrs. VICTOR RICKARD a bold plotter--of course in a strictly
literary sense. It must at this moment have required some courage to make
your hero an agent of the British Secret Service. And having done this she
certainly shirks none of the unpleasant possibilities of the situation so
created. In the interest of his profession, and for no reward save the
service of his country, _Marcus Janover_ is called upon to sacrifice love,
friendship, even his personal honour. Just how all this comes about I leave
you to discover by _The Light above the Cross Roads_ (DUCKWORTH). It is a
powerful and highly original story that has the distinction of breaking
entirely new ground in war-novels. The scenes of it, laid partly in
Ireland, partly in Berlin, or behind the German lines, are themselves
guarantees of the unusual. One slight criticism that I have to make rises
from the question whether so expert an "agent" as _Marcus_ would really
employ blot-producing ink for his map tracery when, on his own confession,
he might have used pencil. But if the blots had not been there the
Prussians (oddly obtuse as to the real meaning of _Marcus's_ presence
amongst them) would never have arrested _Ursule_, and thus provided a
dramatic and unhackneyed situation. There is a gravity and distinction,
moreover, about the tale that somehow reminds me of the late Monsignor
BENSON. It is undoubtedly a story that should be read.

* * * * *

I am rather puzzled what to say about the _The Grey Shepherd_ (HODDER AND
STOUGHTON), because it is essentially a story that will appeal very
differently to readers of different temperaments. Some people will say,
"How beautiful!" Others perhaps, "How precious!" and both with a certain
truth. For my own part, I should select a middle course, and say that Mrs.
J.E. BUCKROSE has had a wholly admirable idea for a short story, which she