when my brother told me it was mine, I felt a joy so intense that it
seemed to me it must last forever. Oh! what unexpected joy to possess it
for my very own! And what happiness to know that I could enjoy it every
single day during the warm and beautiful months that were to come. And
the thought of being able to live out of doors again, the prospect of
playing in every nook of that lovely garden, as I had done the previous
summer, was rapture to me.

I remained at the edge of the pond a long time, looking at it and
admiring it unceasingly, and I breathed in the sweet, mild spring air,
and warmed myself in the radiant sunlight so long denied to me. The old
plum tree above my head, planted so long ago by one of my ancestors, and
now almost at the end of its usefulness, spread its lacy curtain of new
leaves to the tender blue of the sky, and the tiny fountain in its
shade continued its tuneful melody as if it were a little hurdy-gurdy
celebrating my return to health.

To-day that old plum tree is dead and its trunk the only thing left of
it, and spared out of respect, is covered, like a ruin, with ivy vines.

But the pond, with its grottoes and islets, still remains intact; time
has given it the appearance of genuine nature herself. Its greenish
stones look old and decayed; the mosses, the delicate little plants
brought from the river, and the rushes and wild iris have acclimated
themselves, and dragon flies that stray through the town take refuge
there--a bit of wild nature has established itself in that little corner
and I hope it will never be disturbed.

I am more loyally attached to that spot than to any other, although
I have loved many places; in no other one have I found so much peace;