rie.

Again he soliloquized: "We all travel towards the grave. We all
shall one day be like these around me. Why work, why trouble
oneself. Why have I taken so much pains about my education? I have
been ambitious, I have worried myself, I have been anxious to
acquire wealth and fame. Here, the rich and the poor, the famous,
the unfamous, and the infamous, the ignorant and the educated, are
resting in the same ground, surrounded by the same scenery. I have
been foolish to worry myself thus.

"Do I not daily meet ignorant and uncivilised people who live a life
of contentment and happiness? Not caring for the future, not
aspiring after getting on in life, living from hand to mouth, they
manage to show a radiant countenance.

"Is ignorance bliss? Perhaps, in one sense; still I would not be
without education.

"What must I do to be happy? I will shut mine eyes to all ambition,
I will live a quiet life. Alas! even as I pronounce these words, my
heart belies them. I cannot annihilate the acute brain which
tortures me. Since all my hopes of happiness seem to shun me, I will
continue in my new religion--pessimism; and when the hour of death
comes, I will smile."

He thought of the hopeful days he had once known. He rose from his
seat, cast a farewell glance on his parents' grave and proceeded
down the gravel walk. He then thought of the ghost which he had
seen, and felt a vague sense of fear. "I am no coward," he muttered
as he straightened himself and tried to assume an air of
indifference. But he felt nervous. He glanced anxiously behind him
every other moment, and increased his pace.

He perceived, among the trees, near the gate over which he had to
pass--a light.

It was as if a thunderbolt had passed through his body.

He looked more attentively. Yes, there was a light, a strange,
fantastic light, dancing amongst the trees. His feverish brain
caused him to lose all power of reasoning.

"What is this?" he said to himself. He felt his heart beating
heavily against the walls of its prison as if trying to escape. His
legs seemed to give way under him. A big lump stuck in his throat.

"It is only an _ignis fatuus_," he said to himself. "No, it cannot
be, it does not burn with a bluish light. Why this terror, why this
fear; it must be the _feu bellanger_."

The light changed. It was approaching.

A sense of horripilation stole over him. A cold perspiration bathed
him.

The light changed again. It really receded