A REGENCY CHARADE

A good-humored, mild Regency, with the requisite girl of spunk, and toff of brassy tongue. Between the two, here, is the matter of the possession of a handsome if drafty and decaying 14th-century castle. Since the death of Katherine Spenser's spoiler brother Harry, she has been struggling to save money--for nine-year-old brother Sir William, the new baronet, and for the family's debt. ridden castle of Kielder in chilly and wild Northumberland. But careful plans crumble when there appears the dandyish Mr. Drew, who claims that brother Harry, a gambling fool, had lost Kielder to him, and he has papers to prove it. Mr. Drew moves in--to the delight of bored William and impecunious servants. But Katherine is determined to oust the London-based Drew by seeing to it that he's uncomfortable as possible. With the sometime help of best-friend Letty, Katherine breaks windowpanes, blocks a chimney and removes roof tiles above Mr. Drew's bed. (She does decide, though, that William's locking him in the dungeon on the first day would be unwise, if satisfying.) There'll be a turn as a castle ghost appears before two shrieking London guests, and as Katherine herself goes to London to investigate the mysteries surrounding ""Mr. Drew."" Predictably, he's greater than he admits; and in spite of a humiliating wager that Kate will succumb to Drew's charms, there's the inevitable happy close. Not much period ambiance--but pretty and passable.