r no other reason would I have
gone. This the good lady accepted smilingly, and wished me much
happiness in my new home.

There were not many preparations for me to make. My books and my
wardrobe packed, my landlady paid, a modest demand on my bankers, and I
was ready. It was in the latter part of April, in the midst of a steady
downpour of rain, that I took my seat in the four-horse coach, with Fido
between my feet. I remember the feeling which came to me when the huge
vehicle started. I felt that I was almost leaving the earth, despite the
rumbling and the jolting, when I thought of my destination. The heavy
clouds and the swishing rain held no gloom for me. For above the clouds
was the broad, blue sky, with the sun somewhere in it, and somewhere
beyond the curtain of the rain was light and warmth and blooming fields.
My heart was beating riotously, for this trip was really an adventure to
me, who had not been anywhere for nearly twenty years. The coach was
empty but for us, Fido and me, and it will seem queer to some when I
say that I was very thankful for this. But I did not care to talk to
people who were nothing to me, and who I might never see again. I much
preferred to be in solitude, and muse upon all that my new life would
hold for me. The rain stopped all at once, so suddenly that I would have
been surprised had it not been April, and through the soiled glass of
the coach door, now thickly streaked where the raindrops had run down
it, came a blunted arrow of sunshine.

My trip would have been a tiresome one under ordinary circumstances, but
I did not feel the least fatigue during all the long journey. I shall
never forget the morning we rolled into Springfield, and drew up before
a small frame building opposite the court square. A plain board
suspended above the doorway of this building bore the simple
inscription, "Reuben Walker, Attorney-at-Law." Here was the place where
my friend gave legal counsel in exchange for legal money. I caught sight
of his broad, humorous face ere the coach had given its final jolt as it
came to a standstill. Directly in front of the office before which we
stopped were two large locust-trees, and under these trees that bright
spring morning quite a little company had gathered. There was a sudden
explosion of laughter as the stage-driver descended from his perch and
opened the door for me to alight, and a quick glance showed me that some
joker had reached the climax of his narrati