_By the Same Author_ COLIN VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE MISS MAPP DODO WONDERS ROBIN LINNET QUEEN LUCIA _COLIN II._ _A NOVEL_ _By E. F. BENSON_ :: :: _Author of “Colin,” “Visible and Invisible”_ : _THIRD EDITION_ _LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO._ _PATERNOSTER ROW_ _Published August, 1925._ PREFACE The Preface to “Colin” (published in 1923) informed such readers as peruse prefaces that a further volume would complete the history of his association with the bargain his ancestor struck with Satan.... “Colin II.” therefore must not be regarded as a sequel to “Colin,” but as the second half of that romance. The interval between the appearance of the two books has been longer than I anticipated, for I was not aware of the difficulties that lay ahead. E. F. BENSON. INTRODUCTION With the declining wheel of the sun to the west, the shadow of the great yew-hedge began to flow like some tide, dark and clear, over the paved terrace which since morning had basked in the blaze of the July day. It had been planted by Colin Stanier first Earl of Yardley, when he laid the foundations of his house in the time of Elizabeth, and the three-sided serge rampart, now thick and solid as a fortress-wall, ran out from the corners of the façade, and formed a frame for the lawn below the terrace. Beyond, the ground declined in smooth slopes of short-cut turf to the lake. This lake also was the creation of the first Lord Yardley, for he had built the broad dam now clothed with rhododendrons across the dip of the valley, so that the stream which flowed down it was pent to form this triangular expanse of water. At the top end it was shallow, but by the sluice in the centre of the dam fifteen feet of dark water reflected the banks of blossom. Beyond again and below the hill-side tumbled rapidly down to the heat-hazed levels of the Romney marsh, and over all the great house kept watch, stately and steadfast as the hill from which it sprang, a presiding presence and symbol of the three centuries of unbroken prosperity which had blessed the fortunes of the Staniers. Whatever uprooting tornado of revolution had swept across England, devastating or impoverishing the great families of the past, they seemed anchored and protected beyond all power of ruinous vicissitudes. They were no fat or brainless race, who but battened and dozed in material magnificence, but served their country well in public ministries. As for their private lives, the Staniers have always considered that such were their own concern.