This story is one of the Achanna series (see “The DÀn-nan-RÒn” and “Green Branches” in Vol. III., “Tragic Romances”). See also the note to these two tales, apposite to the use of the forename Gloom and the surname Achanna.

The forename Alison is properly a woman’s name, but is occasionally given to a male child—whence, no doubt, the not infrequent occurrence of ‘Alison’ as a surname.