1897. An English writer, Steel married an Indian civilian, and for the next twenty-two years lived in India, chiefly in the Punjab area, with which most of her books are connected; her interest in the education of women, as an inspector of schools, gave her special insight into native life and character. The novel, On the Face of the Waters describing incidents of the Indian Mutiny, is her most ambitious work. Her best work can be found in her short-story collections of which In the Permanent Way is one.