So they went together to the town. On the way the clerk felt a brightness of existence such as he had not enjoyed for a long time. They talked together, and confided in one another. At length they came near the town where the student’s friend lived. They separated, the clerk going into the town, the student to the house of his friend. On his way there the path led through a small wood of very thick growth. Passing along, he found that he had left the path. Pausing to reflect in which direction he ought to go, he thought he heard a sound. It was repeated. Penetrating deep into the obscurest part of the wood, he searched till at length he found—carefully concealed—a child, a mere infant. The child was nearly perished with exposure. He took it up and warmed it. When the child was a little better the cause of its having been hidden away was apparent. Its breathing was distressed and laboured. It suffered under some affection of the lungs, which made it gasp at every breath. Still in other respects the child was well developed and seemed strongly made. It seemed to have been left too long without care to recover. The pain of exhaustion from the neglect, and added to this the pain of its breathing, was too much for it, it was sinking. “If I could bear the pain of its breathing,” thought the student, “it might not sink till I could get some nourishment for it.” He looked up, for it seemed to him as if some one struck him in the chest. There was no one there. The pain continued. He did not drop the child but continued on his way to the house of his friend. When he got there he noticed a stillness unusual in the houses of the inhabitants. He entered, and was met by his friend’s sister. He saw at once that something must have happened. She took him into a dimly lighted room, where he saw his friend lying motionless and his face quite white. “He has been suffering great pain for long,” she said; “it was hoped that if he could bear up the pain would have run its course and he would not sink. But all we could do was no use.” The room was full of all things accounted pleasurable, and she looked round as she spoke. “It was no good.” Taking the child from his arms she left him with the form of her brother. Sitting down by his side the student felt the strange oppression on his chest continue. He went out and found that the child had completely revived. It had still the appearance of being agonized in its breathing, but its eyes were bright, and it laughed. “It will be all right soon,” said his friend’s sister. “Tell me what was the matter with your brother.” When he had heard about his malady he returned to the room. After he had sat there for some time he felt more and more the sorrow for the loss of his friend, and the need of his counsel. This aimless, inert form, this lifeless mass, was that which he had come to seek—was the being with whom he had longed to confer.