and the elements; trace the growth of the
trees, listen to the wind, drink in perfumes and hues and everywhere
you will find unparalleled, everlasting miracles. It will replace
for you entirely life among people. Only do not gaze at nature with
the eyes of the vulgar, for then the most beautiful bird songs will
sound to you like a mere screeching; the most majestic forest will
seem nothing but so much kindling wood; in animals you will see
nothing but meat for food; the meadows will appear to you as so much
hay; for then, instead of feeling, you will be calculating."

"All human beings are like that."

"There are a few who can read from the book of nature and find in it
sustenance for their life."

Again they became silent.

The sun began to sink behind the hills on the opposite shore and to
shine ever more coldly as though it were burnt out, dyeing the water
blood red with its parting rays. The thickets seemed to shrink, for
they appeared to grow lower and wider at their bases. The yellowish
sands on the river bank became shrouded by the gray dusk. The
distant horizon seemed to sink away in the mists which rose up as
though they were the smoke of the burnt-out, smoldering sun. An even
deeper silence descended and enveloped the earth in sleep, as though
it were weary of the labors of the day.

Janina pondered over the words of the old man and a quiet, gloomy
sadness filled her heart and cast a vague and shadowy fear over her
mind. A feeling of passive submission and torpor overcame her.

She arose to go, for it was already growing dark.

"Are you going?" she asked the old man.

"Yes, it is already time and it is quite a way to Warsaw."

"Then we shall go together."

He put away his fishing tackle in his cane, deposited the fish in a
small can and began to walk along with Janina at a swift enough
pace.

"I do not know your name," he began to say slowly, "and I'm not at
all interested in that, but I see that you must not be very happy in
life. I am a crazy old man, as my neighbors call me, and an old
mason, as the town gossips like to add; I'm alone and, reconciled to
my fate, I am awaiting the end. Some time ago I knew a little of
what it means to suffer and love, but that is past long ago, long
ago," he whispered, gazing as it were, into a distant past, with a
faint smile of remembrance on his face. "The greatest boon that man
possesses is his ability to forget, otherwise he could not live at
all. But all