He stood staring into the wood for a minute, then said: "What is it about the English countryside — why is the beauty so much more than visual? Why does it touch one so?" He sounded faintly sad. Perhaps he finds beauty saddening — I do myself sometimes. Once when I was quite little I asked father why this was and he explained that it was due to our knowledge of beauty's evanescence, which reminds us that we ourselves shall die. Then he said I was probably too young to understand him; but I understood perfectly.

Barnes writes of the complicated task in his essay "Literary Executions" revealing among other things how he secured the return of the film rights to I Capture the Castle which had been held by Disney since 1949 Smith's personal papers are housed in Boston University's Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center and include manuscripts photographs artwork and correspondence (including letters from Christopher IDodie Smithrwood and John Gielgud). Its success and the discovery of her identity by journalists inspired the newspaper headline "Shopgirl Writes Play". She and Beesley also spent time in Beverly Hills Malibu and Wilton Connecticut.

Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith (3 May 1896 – 24 November 1990) was an English novelist and playwright. Her other works include I Capture the Castle and The Starlight Barking. Smith is best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians.