Linnet Author:Grant Allen Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III WITHIN SIGHT OF A HEROINE Next morning early, aroused by the cloister bell, Will Deverill rose, and looked out of his window. Oh, such an exqui... more »site day! In that clear, crisp air the summits of the Floitenspitze, the Loffler, and the Turnerkamp glistened like diamonds in the full morning sunlight. 'Twas a sight to rejoice his poetic soul. For Will Deverill, though too modest to give himself airs, like Florian, was a poet by birth, and a journalist by trade. Nature had designed him for an immortal bard; circumstances had turned him into an occasional leader-writer. He stood there entranced for many minutes together. He had pushed the leaded window open wide when he first rose, and the keen mountain air blew in at it most refreshingly. All, all was beautiful. He looked out on the fresh green pastures, the deep glen below, the white stream in its midst, the still whiter tops of the virgin mountains beyond it. A stanza for his new poem rose spontaneous in his mind as he leaned his arms on the low sill and gazed out upon the great glaciers: " I found it not where solemn Alps and gtey Draw crimson glories from the new-born day, Nor where huge sombre pines loom overhanging Niagara's rainbow spray." He was just feeling in his pocket for a pencil to jot down the rough draft of these few lines, when of a sudden, at the window in the next room at the side, what should he see but Florian's pale face peeping forth most piteously. "What's the matter? Haven't you slept?" Will inquired of his disconsolate friend with a sympathetic nod. The epicurean philosopher shook a sad, slow head with a painfully cheerful air of stoical resignation. " Not a wink since three o'clock," he answered, gloomily. " Those dreadful creatures have bothered me without ceasing." "Sure...« less