A JOURNEY TO NATURE 



and with poised instinct detecting the false note 

 in it ! 



&quot; But I want it to be,&quot; I said. &quot; Let me be 

 frank with you, and tell you some things.&quot; 



&quot; If they are unpleasant things, why tell them ? &quot; 



&quot; Because my life has not been made up alto 

 gether of pleasant things, like yours.&quot; 



&quot; Are you going to tell me about your life ? 

 Why should you ? It isn t necessary.&quot; 



&quot; Some things grow clearer in the telling. You 

 know I came up here by the Doctor s advice. He 

 thought it was time I stopped living one kind of 

 life and began another ; in fact, he said if I didn t 

 stop I wouldn t have any life to lead. At first I 

 thought it was pretty tough. You see, he didn t 

 tell me that I would meet you, and when I did 

 it wasn t so tough. I think I should have gone 



back at the end of a month if it had not been for 





 you. 



We were walking slowly on our way back, 

 quite close together, and I waited a moment for 

 her to say something. 



&quot; Perhaps,&quot; she said presently, &quot; that would 

 have been the better way who can tell ? &quot; 



&quot; And that does not sound as if it were true,&quot; 

 I answered. &quot; I am a better man than I was.&quot; 



&quot; Were you really so very bad then ? &quot; 



&quot; It looks in this light as if I must have been, 

 not quite a reprobate, perhaps, but about as sel 

 fish, heedless, and headlong as a man can be. 

 Try and fancy a man living at the top of his 

 speed ; short-breathed, in a kind of blind high 



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