Excerpt from Dariel: A Romance of Surrey<br><br>Knowing that if I could cross that valley I should probably strike into a bridle-lane which would take me home at leisure, I turned my Old horse, much against his liking, into this dark and downhill course, away from the main road, which according to the wisdom of our forefathers followed the backbone of the ridge. Soon we began to descend steep places broken with slippery falls Of rock, while branches Of thicket and sapling trees Shook hands overhead, and shut out the sky. My horse, who had never been down on his knees, and knew perhaps by instinct the result Of that attitude in the eyes of men, was beginning to tremble exceedingly; and in fairness to him and myself as well, I jumped Off and led him. He looked at me grate fully, and followed without fear, though sometimes sliding with all four feet, and throwing back his head for balance. And perhaps he Observed, as soon as I did, that no horse had ever tried that descent, since the rains of winter washed it.<br><br>When I was ready to think myself a fool, and wish both of us well out Of it, the sweetest and clearest note, that ever turned the air into melody and the dull world into poetry, came through the arching bowers Of spring, and made the crisp leaves tremulous. Then as a bud, with its point released, breaks into a fountain of flower, the silvery overture broke into a myriad petals Of sensitive song.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.