A JOURNEY TO NATURE 



from impending doom, with the sudden knell 

 of mankind ringing in one s ears. These fata 

 morgana^ thrown on the screen of the sensorium 

 in the dark, were always woven out of the rush 

 and smash of the day, and were always cut off 

 without a beyond. One night in the city the 

 bang of the gong sounded ; and in the twinkling 

 of an eye, I was marching with a million felons in 

 midnight darkness, shoulder to shoulder, none 

 of us knowing where we were going, but pushed 

 on in steady tramp by the pressure of the inex 

 tricable. I did not get over that inscrutable 

 dream for days. I carried it about in my con 

 sciousness like a corpse. When I met Griselle 

 and discovered the sunrise, these dreams all dis 

 appeared. The Doctor said they belonged to 

 the pathognomy of Wall Street. 



While I was musing on that first winter night 

 before the fire, Charlie, who had been asleep, I 

 thought, half an hour, sat up in bed and startled 

 me with an interrogative : 



&quot; Papa ? &quot; 



&quot; Halloo, Comrade ; I thought you were fast 

 asleep. What is it ? &quot; 



&quot;What did the Doctor mean by saying he 

 would be your best man ? &quot; 



&quot;Well, upon my word, my boy; have you 

 been lying there thinking about that ? &quot; 



&quot; No ; I was asleep, but I woke up.&quot; 



&quot; What made you wake up ? &quot; 



&quot; Nothing ; I just woke. I guess you touched 

 me.&quot; 



232 



