John Buchan 
The Dancing Floor 

The Dancing Floor is a 1926 novel by John Buchan featuring Edward Leithen. It is the third of five novels written about the character of Leithen.Edward Leithen is an eminent lawyer who is introduced to the young and handsome Vernon Milburne. By chance, Leithen meets Milburne once again and they become close friends. Milburne divulges that since childhood he has had a recurring dream in which an impending and unknown threat approaches year by year…Mary Butts in a 1933 essay described The Dancing Floor as ‘one of the first novels to owe its origin to The Golden Bough’.