ind laughed, as she said, "Then you ought
not to groan. I thought when I heard you, perhaps you had fallen from a
tree."

"I wasn't groaning," he protested, feeling ashamed.

"Maybe you call it sighing, but it was dreadfully deep."

"Well, I think a fellow has a right to sigh when he can't do anything or
go anywhere; and everybody else is having a good time," Maurice felt
anxious to vindicate himself.

"I am not having a good time," said Rosalind, "at least not very; but then
you know if you stay in the Forest of Arden, something pleasant is bound
to happen before long."

Maurice stared at her blankly.

"Perhaps you don't know the story," Rosalind suggested.

"What story?"

"Its real name is 'As You Like It,' but I call it 'The Story of the
Forest.'"

"What is it about?"

"Oh,--about a banished duke, who lived in the Forest, like Robin Hood, you
know, with a lot of people who were fond of him. He had a daughter, named
Rosalind, and after a while she was banished too and went to look for her
father in the Forest. Her cousin Celia and a funny clown, Touchstone, went
with her, and they were all disguised. And--well, there is a great deal
more to it--but they were all cheerful and brave--everybody is in the
Forest of Arden, because they are sure there is good in everything if you
only try to find it."

"But that is all a story. It isn't true."

"Oh, yes, it is."

"There wasn't a bit of good in hurting my knee and having the whole summer
spoiled." Maurice's tone was undeniably fretful.

"If you had been banished as Rosalind was, I suppose you would not have
thought there was any good in that; but she didn't cry about it. She made
the best of it, and had a good time in spite of it."

"Who says I was crying?" Maurice demanded angrily.

Rosalind opened her gray eyes wide, then she sat up and tossed back her
hair. Maurice felt convicted of rudeness. Was she going? He hoped not, for
he wished to talk to her.

"I suppose I am rather cross," he acknowledged; "but don't you think it is
pretty hard to hurt your knee and have to walk with a crutch, and stay at
home when the other boys go fishing?"

"Yes, indeed. Does it hurt much?" Rosalind asked, with ready sympathy.

"No, not now; it did at first, but the doctor says it will be five or six
months before it is well again."

"Then it isn't for always? That is something good."

Maurice somehow felt uncomfortable. He did not wish the emphasis laid on
the good