ed him with reproaches for
not having shot after me when I missed. And notwithstanding that the
man maintained this to have been perfectly impossible, since in the
very same moment the wolf had rushed upon me, and any shot would have
been at the risk of hitting me, the Baron persisted in saying that he
ought to have taken especial care of me as a less experienced hunter.
Meanwhile the keepers had lifted up the dead animal; it was one of the
largest that had been seen for a long time; and everybody admired my
courage and resolution, although to myself what I had done appeared
quite natural I had not for a moment thought of the danger I had run.
The Baron in particular seemed to take very great interest in the
matter; I thought he would never be done asking me whether, though I
was not wounded by the brute, I did not fear the ill effects that would
follow from the fright As we went back to the castle, the Baron took me
by the arm like a friend, and I had to give my firelock to a keeper to
carry. He still continued to talk about my heroic deed, so that
eventually I came to believe in my own heroism, and lost all my
constraint and embarrassment, and felt that I had established myself
in the Baron's eyes as a man of courage and uncommon resolution. The
schoolboy had passed his examination successfully, was now no longer a
schoolboy, and all the submissive nervousness of the schoolboy had left
him. I now conceived I had earned a right to try and gain Seraphina's
favour. Everybody knows of course what ridiculous combinations the
fancy of a love-sick youth is capable of. In the castle, over the
smoking punchbowl, by the fireside, I was the hero of the hour. Besides
myself the Baron was the only one of the party who had killed a
wolf--also a formidable one; the rest had to be content with ascribing
their bad shots to the weather and the darkness, and with relating
thrilling stories of their former exploits in hunting and the dangers
they had escaped. I thought, too, that I might reap an especial share
of praise and admiration from my old uncle as well; and so, with a view
to this end, I related to him my adventure at pretty considerable
length, nor did I forget to paint the savage brute's wild and
bloodthirsty appearance in very startling colours. The old gentleman,
however, only laughed in my face and said, "God is powerful even in the
weak."

Tired of drinking and of the company, I was going quietly along the
corridor towards