Excerpt from An Immortal Soul: A Novel<br><br>The deep-sunken earthy lane, just wide enough for the passage of a cart, climbed upwards in zigzags between the pastures and plough lands of the hill. With the wisps of hay and straw caught in the brambles which hung over it, and the primroses which in waver ing lines illuminated the slopes below them, it might have been a little artery wandering into the very heart of Arcadian England. As a matter of fact, it stopped short at a rough gate, which committed the pedestrian to a footpath, and a rising field. The field was studded with gorse-bushes, of which those on the higher levels showed their prickles and their blossoms against the sky.<br><br>The afternoon sun of a mild March was shining, almost as warm and brilliant as the suns of the South of France, when a well-dressed man, with a brown Tyrolean hat, and a pearl in each of the shirt cufi's which emerged from the Scotch homespun of his sleeves, made his way up the lane, as though he were an exploring stranger. During the 'course of his leisurely ascent, however, though the quarter Of the sky facing him was still clear and cloudless, he noticed that a curious dimness was creeping over the Objects round him, and he presently looked back to discover the cause of so abrupt a change.<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.