22 JUNE IN FRAN CON I A. 



at hand just above me. I hope my readers 

 are none of them too old to sympathize with 

 the boyish feeling. At all events, I quick- 

 ened my pace. The distance could not be 

 more than half a mile, I thought. But it 

 was wonderful how that perverse trail among 

 the boulders did unwind itself, as if it never 

 would come to an end; and I was not sur- 

 prised, on consulting a guide-book after- 

 wards, to find that my half mile had really 

 been a mile and a half. One's sensations in 

 such a case I have sometimes compared 

 with those of an essay -writer when he is get- 

 ting near the end of his task. He dallied 

 with it in the beginning, and was half ready 

 to throw it up in the middle ; but now the 

 fever is on him, and he cannot drive the pen 

 fast enough. Two days ago he doubted 

 whether or not to burn the thing; now it is 

 certain to be his masterpiece, and he must 

 sit up till morning, if need be, to finish 

 it. What would life be worth without 

 its occasional enthusiasm, laughable in the 

 retrospect, perhaps, but in itself pleasurable 

 almost to the point of painf ulness ? 



It was a glorious day. I enjoyed the 

 climb, the lessening forest, the alpine plants 



