IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN. 125 



came to know at last those whose knowledge of 

 Arden was most complete, and I put them in a 

 place by themselves ; a corner in the study to 

 which Rosalind and I went for the books we read 

 together. I would gladly give a list of these works 

 but for the fact I have already hinted that those 

 who would understand their references to Arden 

 will come to know them without aid from me, and 

 that those who would not understand could find 

 nothing in them even if I should give page and 

 paragraph. It was a great surprise to me, when I 

 first began to speak of the Forest, to find that most 

 people scouted the very idea of such a country ; 

 many did not even understand what I meant. 

 Many a time, at sunset, when the light has lain soft 

 and tender on the distant Forest, I have pointed it 

 out, only to be told that what I thought was the 

 Forest was a splendid pile of clouds, a shining mass 

 of mist. I came to understand at last that Arden 

 exists only for a few, and I ceased to talk about it 

 save to those who shared my faith. Gradually I 

 came to number among my friends many who were 

 in the habit of making frequent journeys to the 

 Forest, and not a few who had spent the greater 

 part of their lives there. I remember the first time 

 I saw Rosalind I saw the light of the Arden sky in 

 her eyes, the buoyancy of the Arden air in her 

 step, the purity and freedom of the Arden life in 

 her nature. We built our home within sight of the 

 Forest, and there was never a day that we did not 



