Reading, studying, fishing, beautiful country, and all that.  And he did not like school-teaching!  No wonder he was happier here than he had ever been before!  My eyes wandered around the tastefully furnished room.  “Her husband’s successor,” I said to myself, pondering.  “He did not like school-teaching, and he was so happy here.”  Of course he was happy.  “Died and left him some money.”  There was no one to leave me any money, but I had saved some for the time when I should devote myself entirely to my profession.  Profession—­I thought.  After all, what is there in a profession?  Slavery; anxiety.  And he chose a life of reading, studying, fishing, and everything else.

I turned to the window and again looked up into the sky.  There was a great star up there, and it seemed to wink cheerfully at me as the words came into my mind, “her husband’s successor.”

When I opened my little valise, before going to bed, I saw the box the doctor’s daughter had given me.

After sitting so long at the open window, thought I, it might be well to take one of these capsules, and I swallowed one.

When I was called to breakfast the next morning I saw that the table was laid with covers for two.  In a moment my hostess entered and bade me good-morning.  We sat down at the table; and the elderly woman waited.  I could now see that her face was the color of a shop-worn lemon.

As for the lady who had gone to school at Walford—­I wondered what place in the old school-room she had occupied—­she was more charming than ever.  Her manner was so cordial and cheerful that I could not doubt that she considered the entry of my name in her book as a regular introduction.  She asked me about my plan of travel, how far I would go in a day, and that sort of thing.  The elderly woman was very grim, and somehow or other I did not take very much interest in my plan of travel, but the meal was an extremely pleasant one for all that.

The natural thing for me to do after I finished my breakfast was to pay my bill and ride away, but I felt no inclination for anything of the sort.  In fact, the naturalness of departure did not strike me.  I went out on the little porch and gazed upon the bright, fresh morning landscape, and as I did so I asked myself why I should mount my bicycle and wheel away over hot and dusty roads, leaving all this cool, delicious beauty behind me.

What could I find more enjoyable than this?  Why should I not spend a few days at this inn, reading, studying, fishing?  Here I wondered why that man told me such a lie about the fishing.  If I wanted to exercise on my wheel I felt sure there were pretty roads hereabout.  I had plenty of time before me—­my whole vacation.  Why should I be consumed by this restless desire to get on?

I could not help smiling as I thought of my somewhat absurd fancies of the night before; but they were pleasant fancies, and I did not wonder that they had come to me.  It certainly is provocative of pleasant fancies to have an exceedingly attractive young woman talk of you in any way as her husband’s successor.