character. I fulfilled my duties, and took little heed of any one.
Whenever I had an hour at my disposal, I sought solitude in the
neighboring woods, far from the town and from mankind. I used to lie
down under the big trees. Every season in turn, spring and summer,
autumn and winter, had its peculiar charm for me. My heart, so full
of bitterness, felt lightened as soon as I listened to the rustling
of the foliage overhead. The forest! There is nothing finer in all
creation. A deep calm seemed to settle down upon me. I was growing
old. I was forgetting. It was about this time that, in consequence
of my complete indifference to all surroundings, I acquired the
habit of answering 'Very well' to everything that was said. The
words came so naturally that I was not aware of my continual use of
them, until one day one of my fellow-teachers happened to tell me
that masters and pupils alike had given me the nickname of 'Very
well.' Is it not odd that one who has never succeeded in anything
should be known as 'Very well'?

"I have only one other little adventure to relate, and I will have
told all. Then I can listen to your story.

"Last year, my journeyings brought me to the neighborhood of Elmira.
It was holiday-time. I had nothing to do, and I had in my purse a
hundred hardly earned dollars, or thereabout. The wish seized me to
revisit the scene of my joys and my sorrows. I had not set foot in
the place for more than seven years. I was so changed that nobody
could know me again; nor would I have cared much if they had. After
visiting the town and looking at my old school, and the house where
Ellen had lived, I bent my steps towards the park, which is situated
in the environs--a place where I used often to walk in company of my
youthful dreams. It was September, and evening was closing in. The