'Death in Spring'

The narrator and a friend visit the woods in April to observe fox-cubs where they meet an old man who invites them into a shooting-hut.

'His body was like an aged tree, and his eyes were like two miraculous young leaves...they were like the eyes of a child or of a young girl, full of unquenchable life and curiosity and wonder.'

He shares stories of his life and, as they depart, he offers them advice: "If you wish to do anything, do it. Do what you feel you must do. Don't listen to other people. You're young, Let them go to the devil. It's your life, not theirs."

In John O'London's Weekly (August 29, 1931), The Black Boxer Tales (1932), Thirty Tales (1934), Country Tales (1938), Country Tales (1940), The Bride Comes to Evensford and Other Tales (1949), Selected Short Stories of H.E. Bates (1951). Reprinted in English Country Short Stories (London: Elek, 1949).