THE JUMPING BEAN 303 



and it has a special quality even in this season of mist 

 and veiled sunshine. I found there recently, under 

 the trees, as I did fifty years ago, a rare and strange- 

 looking fungus, the Phallus impudicus of botanists, a 

 furtive denizen of the glades which in late spring are 

 purple with wild hyacinths. The same spot in June 

 presents within a few minutes' journey from the smoke 

 and smell and noise of Piccadilly a perfect sample of what 

 is, perhaps, the most beautiful sight in Nature bright 

 sunlight breaking through the young green leaves of a 

 forest on to green herbage. And close by are the 

 azaleas I 



