F. Marion Crawford was one of the more famous authors in the English-speaking world at the time of his death in 1909. He wrote over forty novels, most of which were in the style of disposable romances popular at the time. He also wrote stories of the horror and occult, which are generally the ones for which he is remembered today. Paul Patoff begins: My dear lady-my dear friend-you have asked me to tell you a story, and I am going to try, because there is not anything I would not try if you asked it of me. I do not yet know what it will be about, but it is impossible that I should disappoint you; and if the proverb says, Needs must when the devil drives, I can mend the proverb into a show of grace, and say, The most barren earth must needs bear flowers when an angel sows the seed.