a sigh, "I
had a long and dreadful illness, and lost my hair, my nails, and my
shadow! Look, father, at my time of life, my hair, which has grown
again, quite white, my nails sadly short, and my shadow is not yet
springing forth."--"Ay! ay," said the old man, shaking his head, "no
shadow! that's odd--the gentleman must have had a sad illness!" But he
did not go on with his story, and at the next cross path he glided away
from, me without saying a word. Bitter tears trembled again on my
cheeks--all my serenity was gone.

With a heavy heart I moved forwards, and sought the society of man no
longer. I concealed myself in the thickest of the forest, and was often
obliged to wait for hours in order to get over sunny spots, even where no
human eye forbade my progress; in the evening I sought a retreat in the
villages. At last I bent my course towards a mine in the mountain, where
I hoped to find employment under ground; for besides that my situation
required me even to procure my daily bread, I clearly perceived that
nothing but the most laborious toil would be any protection from my
convulsive thoughts.

A couple of rainy days helped me far on my way, but at the cost of my
boots, whose soles were made to suit Count Peter, and not a running
footman: I soon walked on my naked feet, and was obliged to procure
another pair of boots. The next morning I attended earnestly to this
affair in a village, where a fair was held, and where old and new boots
were exposed in a shop for sale. I selected and bargained for a long
time. I was obliged to abandon a new pair which I wished to possess--I
was frightened by the extravagant price, and satisfied myself, therefore,
with old ones, which were yet firm and strong, and which the fair and
light-haired shop-boy handed to me for my ready cash with a smile, while
he wished me a prosperous journey. I put them on immediately, and went
away through a door which lay to the north.

I was lost in my own thoughts, and hardly observed where I put my
foot--for I was still planning about the mine, whither I hoped to arrive
by the evening, and hardly knew how I should manage to introduce myself
there. I had not advanced two hundred paces ere I discovered that I had
lost my way; I looked round, and found myself in an antique and desert
wood of firs, to the roots of which it appeared the axe had never been
laid. I still hastened onwards a few steps, and perceived I was among
dreary rocks, su