He was quite near
the bush, then turned abruptly, ran on still murmuring the same, came
out upon the open road, ran a distance, stopped abruptly and burst out
laughing, walked smiling quietly a few paces, then burst out laughing
loudly again, and did not cease laughing all the way along the hedge.
It was on a beautiful autumn day; the fall of the foliage was going on
apace and the path which led to the lake was quite covered with the
citron-yellow leaves from the elms and maples; here and there were
spots of a darker foliage. It was very pleasant, very clean to walk on
this tigerskin-carpet, and to watch the leaves fall down like snow; the
birch looked even lighter and more graceful with its branches almost
bare and the roan-tree was wonderful with its heavy scarlet cluster of
berries. And the sky was so blue, so blue, and the wood seemed so much
bigger, one could look so far between the trunks. And then of course
one could not help thinking that soon all this would be of the past.
Wood, field, sky, open air, and everything soon would have to give way
to the time of the lamps, the carpets, and the hyacinths. For this
reason the councilor from Cape Trafalgar and his daughter were walking
down to the lake, while their carriage stopped at the bailiff's.
The councilor was a friend of nature, nature was something quite
special, nature was one of the finest ornaments of existence. The
councilor patronized nature, he defended it against the artificial;
gardens were nothing but nature spoiled; but gardens laid out in
elaborate style were nature turned crazy.
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