Books: Three's a Crowd

THE CAUTIOUS HEART (186 pp.)—William Sansom—Reynal ($3.50).

Marie O'Hara is pretty, and Colin, her escort, is falling-down drunk, so it is only natural for the nightclub pianist who is the nameless narrator-hero of this novel to offer help. Even as the trio sways "like a chorus line" through the nighttime streets of North London, the pianist feels drawn to the girl beyond the call of gentlemanly duty. When Marie invites him upstairs for a meal a few days later, his mind fairly boils with mingled hopes and doubts. For though "there was once a time, a golden age, when such an invitation...