You may remember, my dear friend, that after having run through the
school-philosophy, I became sensible of my unfitness for
metaphysical speculations, and therefore totally abstained from
engaging in them. Since then I have acquiesced in some things, and
abandoned all hope of comprehending others; trusting, as you advised
me, to my own plain sense and the voice of conscience to direct and,
if possible, maintain me in the right path.

Now this skilful rhetorician seemed to me to expend great skill in
rearing a firmly-constructed edifice, towering aloft on its own
self-supported basis, but resting on, and upheld by, some internal
principle of necessity. I regretted in it the total absence of what
I desired to find; and thus it seemed a mere work of art, serving
only by its elegance and exquisite finish to captivate the eye.
Nevertheless, I listened with pleasure to this eloquently gifted
man, who diverted my attention from my own sorrows to the speaker;
and he would have secured my entire acquiescence if he had appealed
to my heart as well as to my judgment.

In the meantime the hours had passed away, and morning had already
dawned imperceptibly in the horizon; looking up, I shuddered as I
beheld in the east all those splendid hues that announce the rising
sun. At this hour, when all natural shadows are seen in their full
proportions, not a fence or a shelter of any kind could I descry in
this open country, and I was not alone! I cast a glance at my
companion, and shuddered again--it was the man in the grey coat
himself! He laughed at my surprise, and said, without giving me
time to speak: "You see, according to the fashion of this world,
mutual convenience binds us together for a time: there is plenty of
time to think of parting. The road here along the mountain, which