beside it. On
the table, by the bed, I noticed too an old Bible that I had never
before seen, probably because this treasure had always been kept in his
drawer as a sacred thing.

He looked more languid and worn out than usual; but his face wore a
beatified expression, as of a man who had wrestled with his fate, and
had won rest and resignation.

If possible, he said, he would like to speak to my wife that same
morning; but he would rather talk with me at once, and so I must sit
down for a little while.

With a smile--that same quiet, sweet, mysterious smile of his that I
knew so well, but which now seemed no longer to shun observation--he
turned to me saying, as he laid his hand on my shoulder and looked into
my face:

"My dear, kind Frederick! I know for certain, though I cannot tell you
why, that I shall not live to see the spring again. What is wanting
neither you nor any one else can give me, only God; but of all men you
have been the kindest to me, and your friendship has reached farther
than you would ever imagine. You have a right to know him who has been
your friend. When I am gone--and that will undoubtedly be this winter,
perhaps sooner than you, judging from my condition, think--you will find
some memoranda in my drawer; they are the history of my early youth, but
uneventful as that was, it has had its effect upon my whole life. It
will tell you that the world has been sad, very sad for me, and that I
am as glad as an escaped bird to leave it."

"There was a time," he added after some hesitation, "when I wished to be
buried in a churchyard up in Nordland; but now I think that the place
does not make any difference, and that one can rest just as peacefully
down here."

Saying which, he pressed my hand, and asked me to go for my wife.

When she came, she was surprised to see him brighter and in better
spirits than she had ever thought he could be. He wanted, he said, to
ask a favour of her. It was a whim of his; but, if he should be called
away, she must promise him to plant a wild rose upon his grave next
spring.

My wife understood how sad the request was when I told her what had
already passed; for David had looked so confident and bright when he was
talking to her, that the sorrowful element was absent.

My friend's prophecy about himself proved to be only too true. Though
his mood grew constantly brighter, so that he sometimes even had a gleam
of the joy of living, his illness went in the opp