and beauty of the Forest life;
books which brought back the dreams that were fading out and touched us
afresh with the unsearchable charm and beauty of the Ideal. Surely
there could no better fortune befall us than to be able to call these
great ministering spirits our friends.

But, strong as was our longing, we were not without misgivings when we
first found ourselves in Arden. In this commerce of ideas and hopes,
what had we to give in exchange? How could we claim that equality with
those we longed to know which is the only basis of friendship? We were
unconsciously carrying into the Forest the limitations of our old life,
and among all the glad surprises that awaited us, there was none so
joyful as the discovery that our misgivings vanished as soon as we
began to know our neighbours. Neither of us will ever forget the
perfect joy of those earliest meetings; a joy so great that we wondered
if it could endure. There is nothing so satisfying as quick
comprehension of one's hopes, instant sympathy with them, absolute
frankness of speech, and the brilliant and stimulating play of mind
upon mind where there is complete unconsciousness of self and complete
absorption in the idea and the hour. There was something almost
intoxicating in those first wonderful talks in Arden; we seemed
suddenly not only to be perfectly understood by others, but for the
first time to understand ourselves; the horizons of our mental world
seemed to be swiftly receding and new continents of truth were lifted
up into the clear light of consciousness. All that was best in us was
set free; we were confident where we had been uncertain and doubtful;
we were bold where we had been almost cowardly. We spoke our deepest
thought frankly; we drew from their hiding-places our noblest dreams of
the life we hoped to live and the things we hoped to achieve; we
concealed nothing, reserved nothing, evaded nothing; we were desirous
above all things that others should know us as we knew ourselves. It
was especially restful and refreshing to speak of our failures and
weaknesses, of our struggles and defeats; for these experiences of ours
were instantly matched by kindred experiences, and in the common
sympathy and comprehension a new kind of strength came to us. The
humiliation of defeat was shared, we found, by even the greatest; and
that which made these noble souls what they were was not freedom from
failure and weakness, but steadfast struggle to ov