THE SEARCH AND FINDING 



valley where his cows were feeding just south- 

 ward, and how the hills rolled up grandly 

 westward, and were hemmed in to the north 

 by a heavy belt of timber. 



I think we are all hypocrites at a bargain. 

 I suspect I threw out casual objections to the 

 house, and the distance, and the roughness; 

 and yet have an uneasy recollection of thank- 

 ing my friend for having brought to my notice 

 the most charming spot I had yet seen, and one 

 which met my wish in nearly every particular. 



It seems to me that the ride to town must 

 have been very short, and my dinner a hasty 

 one : I know I have a clear recollection of wan- 

 dering over those hills, and that plateau of 

 farm-land, afoot, that very afternoon. I re- 

 member tramping through the wood, and test- 

 ing the turf after the manner of my lank friend 

 upon the Hudson. I can recall distinctly the 

 aspect of house, and hills, as they came into 

 view on my second drive from the town; how 

 a great stretch of forest, which lay in common, 

 flanked the whole, so that the farm could be 

 best and most intelligently described as — lying 

 on the edge of the wood ; and it seemed to me, 

 that if it should be mine, it should wear the 

 name of — Edgewood. 



It is the name it bears now. I will not de- 



43 



