82 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



to catch the dimly veiled glory ; nearer still, till I 

 could make out the separate faces of the flowers, 

 and find that not one was asleep. One night, in 

 particular, comes back to my memory. 



I had been far afield, fishing, where the stream 

 ran between high banks of broom and whin, 

 slackening towards the mill dam. The biggest 

 fish lay just where the current broke in upon the 

 still waters of the dam. The best time was just as 

 the light became magic. For company I had 

 white-throats and sedge warblers, marsh buntings 

 and meadow pipits, agreeable, if only as a change 

 from human chatter. The charm, rather than the 

 fish, held me. 



It was late when I tore myself away and 

 started back over a rough country. I took as near 

 a crow -line as the ripening grain fields would 

 allow. Distant objects had drawn over them a 

 tender veil of summer dark, too transparent for 

 concealment. 



The railway embankment was whiter than I 

 remembered to have seen it. There, all seemed to 

 be just awakening from the drowse of day. I 

 approached till I could see the faint yellow discs 

 with the great expanded petals. Had I been 

 more tired than I was, I could not have passed by, 



