He is not mad; or if he is so, then I too have lost my senses amid the gloom of these pine-tree forests. But you must hear, in the first place, what happened to-day.

We had one of those mild evenings that sometimes occur in the month of February, and which irresistibly entice us abroad by the pleasant promise and anticipation of approaching spring. I went down to walk on the terrace. The river murmured so soothingly in its ceaseless course!—Great flocks of water birds were wheeling over the forest marshes; and the air was filled with humming insects. Thus it seemed that Nature was unobserved and gradually preparing for her triumph over winter, and her approaching days of jubilee. I would have gladly taken a ramble