Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/246

222 affected to believe that the maidens had shared his flight, and so sent for Oliver, to hear what he knew of them.

The Duke was so far past reason, that Oliver could not convince him that he was no friend to his brother Orlando, and no confidant of his intentions. Frederick would hear nothing, but accusing Orlando, and all bearing the name of De Bois, of treason, bade Oliver instantly go seek his missing brother, and bring him back, or he also should be banished, and all his estates confiscated. So Oliver, stripped of lands and money, was pushed out to seek the brother whom he had loved so little, and doomed to be beggared till he had found him.

One sunny afternoon Celia and Rosalind awaited the coming of Orlando, at one of the cool green trysting-places in the forest, where they were wont to meet. Already the sun had begun to go down, and he was not come, when, looking up, they espied some one else approaching them. This was a man evidently worn and disheveled by a long and tedious journey. His clothes were dusty and ragged, his beard and hair uncut, and his eyes swollen like one who lacked sleep. Still, in his bearing and voice, he bore some marks of nobleness which the two maidens could not fail to distinguish. He asked them if they were not the shepherds, Ganymede