THE SPRING SONG By the same Writer. THE BRACKNELS. FOLLOWING DARKNESS. THE GENTLE LOVER. AT THE DOOR OF THE GATE. W. B. YEATS: A CRITICAL STUDY. THE SPRING SONG By FORREST REID ‘I am a little world made cunningly Of elements, and an angelic sprite.’ ――DONNE London EDWARD ARNOLD 41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, BOND STREET, W 1916 _All rights reserved_ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE 1 II IN THE LANE 8 III NEW ARRIVALS 19 IV AT THE WINDOW 39 V THE GARDEN DOOR 48 VI MUSIC 69 VII QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 78 VIII GREY WEATHER 88 IX POUNCER 114 X THROUGH THE DARKNESS 129 XI INSPECTOR DORSET 137 XII THE SPRING SONG 167 XIII THE PERFUMES OF ARABIA 176 XIV THE RECOGNITION 186 XV DANGER 196 XVI GRIF RECEIVES A VISITOR 212 XVII FANTASY 223 XVIII GRIF AWAKENS 233 XIX DOCTOR O’NEILL CALLS IN A SPECIALIST 237 XX MISS JOHNSON’S BIRTHDAY 248 XXI PALMER AT WORK 259 XXII FIRE 281 XXIII THE GLITTERING NET 292 XXIV GRIF FALLS ASLEEP 305 THE SPRING SONG CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE ‘So fair a summer look for never more.’ ――_Thomas Nashe._ Leaning back against the leather cushion of the railway-carriage, Griffith Weston was conscious of an endless panorama of fields and meadows, of green hedges and white hawthorn, and blazing, yellow furze. The whole landscape was bathed in a crude glare of June sunlight, and the heat, and the vivid glittering light, and the rushing train, made his head ache.