



Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online
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[Illustration: _The Man who could talk with the Birds_]




DROLLS

FROM SHADOWLAND

BY

J. H. PEARCE

_Author of "Esther Pentreath," "Inconsequent Lives," "Jaco Treloar,"
&c._

        NEW YORK
        MACMILLAN AND CO.
        1893.

_All rights reserved._




CONTENTS.

                                          PAGE

  THE MAN WHO COINED HIS BLOOD INTO GOLD     1

  AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY                     15

  THE MAN WHO COULD TALK WITH THE BIRDS     27

  THE PURSUIT                               39

  A PLEASANT ENTERTAINMENT                  49

  THE MAN WHO DESIRED TO BE A TREE          61

  THE MAN WHO HAD SEEN                      73

  THE UNCHRISTENED CHILD                    85

  THE MAN WHO MET HATE                      95

  THE HAUNTED HOUSE                        109

  GIFTS AND AWARDS                         119

  FRIEND OR FOE?                           133

  THE FIELDS OF AMARANTH                   145

  THE COMEDY OF A SOUL                     155





THE MAN WHO COINED HIS BLOOD INTO GOLD.


THE yoke of Poverty galled him exceedingly, and he hated his
taskmistress with a most rancorous hatred.

As he climbed up or down the dripping ladders, descending from sollar to
sollar towards the level where he worked, he would set his teeth grimly
that he might not curse aloud--an oath underground being an invitation
to the Evil One--but in his heart the muffled curses were audible
enough. And when he was at work in the