This being Muriel Spark, ‘Ballad…’ is a short, sweet, wicked concoction. He posed like an angel-devil, with his hump and shoulder and gleaming smile, and his fingers of each hand widespread against the sky. Dougal posed like and angel on a grave which had only an insignificant headstone. ‘She let him take her through the cemetery, eventually, and even pointed out to him the tower of the crematorium when it came into sight. But Dougal (or Douglas) may not be quite what he seems, ingratiating himself upon the people around him, casting a spell and causing mayhem. In Muriel Spark’s fourth novel, from 1960, Dougal Douglas (or Douglas Dougal depending on who you talk to) arrives in Peckham Rye, South London from Scotland taking up a position with Meadows, Meade and Grindley and a room in Miss Friern’s lodging house. The world was his oyster, so he chose Peckham
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