THE OLD MAN'S DARLING

Love and money, money and marriage, occasion a cheeky novel where you never quite know from which side retribution will come. This takes place in a small London dormitory suburb during the Thirties when Dorothy Rutherford becomes ""Girlie"" to a man more than twice her age, the twice-widowed Frank Chappie. Dorothy who has always worked in a bank is ""as flat as a Monday morning"" and is prodded by her mother into the relatively lucrative alliance. She asks for all she can get while on the side has her first affair with a common driving instructor. Hope smiles when Chappie has to have a leg amputated, and it could be fatal; it dims when he recovers altogether and thinks of changing his will. Mr. Turpin balances his ledger with just the right amount of levity and malice. An adroit small conte just right for the evening when the eye wanders--across a page.