An Elderly Person. By Ella MacMahon. (Chapman and Hall. 6s.)—Miss
MacMahon is better at a long story than at a collection of short sketches. Her forte is not in striking situations, but in the development of character arising out of the environment which she describes. There is no room in a short story for this development, and therefore the author is not at her best. Two stories in this collection, however, reach a high level,—" Mrs. Kavanagh" and "Mrs. Kavanagh's Husband." They are Irish stories, and managed with a touch of whimsical poetry very true to the Irish nature. The other tales, while quite readable, are in no way distinguished, although the first story, from which the book takes its title, has a pathos of its own. Readers who send for the book from the library will, however, find that it is quite possible to spend an agreeable hour even over the more conventional sketches in the collection.
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