But to me there is a peculiar , quiet charm in these broad meadows and gentle eminences . They are better than mountains , because they do not stamp and stereotype themselves into the brain , and thus grow wearisome with the same strong impression , repeated day after day . A few summer weeks among mountains , a lifetime among green meadows and placid slopes , with outlines forever new , because continually fading out of the memory -- such would be my sober choice . I doubt whether Eustace did not internally pronounce the whole thing a bore , until I led him to my predecessor 's little ruined , rustic summer house , midway on the hillside . It is a mere skeleton of slender , decaying tree trunks , with neither walls nor a roof ; nothing but a tracery of branches and twigs , which the next wintry blast will be very likely to scatter in fragments along the terrace . It looks , and is , as evanescent as a dream ; and yet , in its rustic network of boughs , it has somehow enclosed a hint of spiritual beauty , and has become a true emblem of the subtile and ethereal mind that planned it . I made Eustace Bright sit down on a snow bank , which had heaped itself over the mossy seat , and gazing through the arched windows opposite , he acknowledged that the scene at once grew picturesque . `` Simple as it looks , '' said he , `` this little edifice seems to be the work of magic . It is full of suggestiveness , and , in its way , is as good as a cathedral . Ah , it would be just the spot for one to sit in , of a summer afternoon , and tell the children some more of those wild stories from the classic myths ! '' `` It would , indeed , '' answered I. `` The summer house itself , so airy and so broken , is like one of those old tales , imperfectly remembered ; and these living branches of the Baldwin apple tree , thrusting so rudely in , are like your unwarrantable interpolations . But , by the by , have you added any more legends to the series , since the publication of the ` Wonder-Book ' ? '' `` Many more , '' said Eustace ; `` Primrose , Periwinkle , and the rest of them , allow me no comfort of my life unless I tell them a story every day or two . I have run away from home partly to escape the importunity of these little wretches ! But I have written out six of the new stories , and have brought them for you to look over . '' `` Are they as good as the first ? '' I inquired . `` Better chosen , and better handled , '' replied Eustace Bright . `` You will say so when you read them . '' `` Possibly not , '' I remarked .
`` I know from my own experience , that an author 's last work is always his best one , in his own estimate , until it quite loses the red heat XXXXX composition .
after among as at in into of over than through