26o THE LIFE OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



across unpenetrated forest, say from Guildford to 

 Marlborough : 



' Not only was there no track, but no one had ever 

 traversed it, unless, indeed, it were Bushmen, who to all 

 intents might be confused with the wild animals it 

 contained. 



' Yet his heart rose as he walked rapidly among the 

 oaks ; already he saw her, he felt the welcoming touch of 

 her hand ; the danger of Bushman or gipsy was as nothing. 

 The forest at the commencement consisted chiefly of 

 oaks, trees which do not grow close together, and so per- 

 mitted of quick walking. Fehx pushed on, absorbed in 

 thought. The sun sank ; still onward ; and as the dusk 

 fell he was still moving rapidly westward.'* 



That is the end. It is a wilful one, as if on an hexameter 

 instead of a pentameter, yet it needs no defence. Others 

 could have been found to conform to the needs of perhaps 

 a majority. But to end with suspended breath is as true 

 to Nature, and in keeping with this age ; it might be used 

 as a variation upon ' happily ever after ' or ' necessity is 

 great.' 



The members of the House of Aquila are described with 

 sufficient intensity of detail as to their appearance, habits 

 of thought and conduct, and surroundings, to make us 

 willing to hear more of them, yet they are rather written 

 about than revealed. But though Felix himself is not 

 more than the others a complete creature of flesh and mind, 

 he develops into an interesting spirit rather than a man, 

 and his voyage is always fascinating. ' In the hearts of 

 most of us,' wrote Jefferies, looking at the dreamy masts 

 of Thames, ' there is always a desire for something 

 beyond experience. Hardly any of us but have thought, 

 Some day I will go on a long voyage ; but the years go 

 by, and still we have not sailed.' This book was his 

 voyage, the answer to that need which had sent him to 

 see Moscow on foot as a boy. Few records of imagined life 

 are for the time being so desirable as that of the solitary 



* After London. 



