The Return is an interesting story. Taken at face value it is a story of abandonment and hubris, where a somewhat self-centred suitor returns from an over-long quest to make their fortune only to find his beloved dead from grief. Yet, as I argue in “I No Longer Live In This House – The liminality of undeath in the works of R Murray Gilchrist", there is enough subtle imagery to create a more sinister subtext. As with some of his other tales, most prominently The Crimson Weaver, Gilchrist delights in using plant symbolism to add depth and meaning to The Return; yarrow's "evil omen", for example, gives an eerie edge to what is an otherwise pastoral scene.

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