_Ledgar_ and _Mary_, united, are met with in the process of living
unhappily ever after. This is clear enough, human (unfortunately) and
amusing. It was, for one thing, _Mary's_ habit of misquotation that got
upon _Ledgar's_ nerves. "Alas, poor Garrick!" was one of her typical
lapses. Nor was _Ledgar_ himself more of a success with _Mary_, who found
him (and here my sympathies went over to her) lacking in force and
coherence. But as _Mary_ eloped with somebody else at the end of part one
she hadn't my prolonged experience of _Ledgar's_ incomprehensibility. Nor
did the question of his semi-lunatic friend worry her, or the whole problem
of what, if anything, was the motive of the book. Eventually he is shown
pairing off with his earlier love, _Winnie_; and I am bound to say that she
too has my sympathy. I should sum up by saying that the analysis of
introspective egotism, however subtly done, can make at best only an
exasperating story.

* * * * *

In _By the Waters of Africa_ (ROBERT SCOTT) Miss NORMA LORIMER has
described her British East African travels in a series of letters, in which
she shows a very real sense of style and a delightful assumption of her own
unimportance. To people suffering from the books of travellers who seem
more anxious to air themselves than to give impressions of the countries
through which they have passed, it will be a pure relief to find an author
who suppresses herself and really gets on with her business. Thanks to her
friends, whose kindness she frankly acknowledges, Miss LORIMER was able to
see native life under conditions impossible to a less privileged traveller,
and she misses no feature in it that is either humorous or enlightening. It
is a model book of its kind, valuable up to a certain point and always
pleasant to read. Some of the author's adventures might easily have excused
a reckless use of notes of exclamation. But only once does she give way to