r two behind Hollingsworth,
so that the latter could not very conveniently look him in the face. I
remained under the tuft of maples, doing my utmost to draw an inference
from the scene that had just passed. In spite of Hollingsworth's
off-hand explanation, it did not strike me that our strange guest was
really beside himself, but only that his mind needed screwing up, like
an instrument long out of tune, the strings of which have ceased to
vibrate smartly and sharply. Methought it would be profitable for us,
projectors of a happy life, to welcome this old gray shadow, and
cherish him as one of us, and let him creep about our domain, in order
that he might be a little merrier for our sakes, and we, sometimes, a
little sadder for his. Human destinies look ominous without some
perceptible intermixture of the sable or the gray. And then, too,
should any of our fraternity grow feverish with an over-exulting sense
of prosperity, it would be a sort of cooling regimen to slink off into
the woods, and spend an hour, or a day, or as many days as might be
requisite to the cure, in uninterrupted communion with this deplorable
old Moodie!

Going homeward to dinner, I had a glimpse of him, behind the trunk of a
tree, gazing earnestly towards a particular window of the farmhouse;
and by and by Priscilla appeared at this window, playfully drawing
along Zenobia, who looked as bright as the very day that was blazing
down upon us, only not, by many degrees, so well advanced towards her
noon. I was convinced that this pretty sight must have been purposely
arranged by Priscilla for the old man to see. But either the girl held
her too long, or her fondness was resented as too great a freedom; for
Zenobia suddenly put Priscilla decidedly away, and gave her a haughty
look, as from a mistress to a dependant. Old Moodie shook his head;
and again and again I saw him shake it, as he withdrew along the road;
and at the last point whence the farmhouse was visible, he turned and
shook his uplifted staff.

XI. THE WOOD-PATH

Not long after the preceding incident, in order to get the ache of too
constant labor out of my bones, and to relieve my spirit of the
irksomeness of a settled routine, I took a holiday. It was my purpose
to spend it all alone, from breakfast-time till twilight, in the
deepest wood-seclusion that lay anywhere around us. Though fond of
society, I was so constituted as to need these occasional retirements,
even in a