14 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



might be to myself. I had lapses towards civilisa- 

 tion. The lights of London lured me. But one 

 day something happened, I know not what, that 

 drove all thought of the great world of busy 

 cities for ever from my mind." 



" What happened ? " I cried, for Willie paused 

 and seemed to fall into a reverie. 



" What happened ? " he resumed, rousing 

 himself. " I don't know, but something happened 

 that in a flash changed my whole conception of 

 life, of the world, of the universe, of the past, the 

 present, and the future. I cannot understand it 

 myself ; so how can I hope to make you under- 

 stand ? But I will try. 



" I am not, as most people suppose, an absolute 

 wild man of the woods. I have a local habitation 

 and a name. Do you know the country about 

 Great Green Lake ? Yes, well, when I first came 

 out I bought a few acres of land near by where 

 the Manchester river runs out, cleared a patch and 

 built me a house, well, perhaps a shanty is a more 

 suitable term than house. There I keep a few 

 books — classics, and the stores I need, and there 

 I find an occasional letter from the outside world. 

 There I generally spend the few unpleasant weeks 

 of the early spring and late fall, and in a sense it is 



