CRESSIDA

Cressida is a Regency belle, like her foremothers Eugenia, Elyza, Regina, Victoke, etc., from the same plumey pen. She is extremely ""dashing a la modality,"" perhaps too much so, for her flirtations are the talk of the ton, and her broken engagements the subject of its ""more interesting on-dits."" Fractured French is the lingo in these parts, but Cressida pursues her one-time fiancÉ, Der Rossiter, who made a mint on the battle of Waterloo; outwits a sly minx whom she has taken into her home; and defeats the designs of a second-string Beau Brummel in ""a very taking manner."" The publisher assures us that ""It would be easy to believe that Miss Darcy is more at home in the England of her period than in her native Ohio."" Well, there are moments when the sensibilities here seem more Akron than Ascot--but the final judgment must be left to a Heyer authority. In any case, all eggwhite and sugar and beaten up nicely.