Page:Arthur Machen - The Hill of Dreams.djvu/68

THE HILL OF DREAMS he had wronged Mr. Ritson—that old literary hand had by no means stolen his book wholesale, as he had expected. There were about two hundred pages in the pretty little volume, and of these about ninety were Lucian's, dovetailed into a rather different scheme with skill that was nothing short of exquisite. And Mr. Ritson's own work was often very good; spoilt here and there for some tastes by the 'cataloguing' method, a somewhat materialistic way of taking an inventory of the holy country things; but, for that very reason, contrasting to great advantage with Lucian's hints and dreams and note of haunting. And here and there Mr. Ritson had made little alterations in the style of the passages he had conveyed, and most of these alterations were amendments, as Lucian was obliged to confess, though he would have liked to argue one or two points with his collaborator and corrector. He lit his pipe and leant back comfortably in the hedge, thinking things over, weighing very coolly his experience of humanity, his contact with the 'society' of the countryside, the affair of The Chorus in Green, and even some little incidents that had struck him as he was walking through the streets of Caermaen that evening. At the 58