But the early autumn brought an event which abruptly shattered his quiescence, and called forth, presently, the most intimately personal poem of his later years.

Miss Ann Egerton-Smith, his gifted and congenial companion at London concerts, and now, for the fourth year in succession, in the summer _villeggiatura_, died suddenly of heart disease at dawn on Sept.

14, as she was preparing for a mountain expedition with her friends.

It was not one of those losses which stifle thought or sweep it along on the vehement tide of lyric utterance; it was rather of the kind which set it free, creating an atmosphere of luminous serenity about it, and allaying all meaner allurements and distractions.

Elegy is often the outcome of such moods; and the elegiac note is perceptible in the grave music of _La Saisiaz_.