“This combination of intelligence and the greed of a young animal in one and the same being seemed so strange to me that I listened without interrupting him. Yes, I was certainly fascinated: cheaply enough, in all conscience, but I was. I remember the trampling of hooves, the tinkling of bells, the wild cries of the shepherds which announced the approach of a herd of cattle. I told the young man that our being together in the hut might perhaps seem odd: and I wanted him to answer that it would be best to keep quiet until the herd had passed; I should have enjoyed the silence side by side, the feeling that we shared a secret (for I, too, was becoming exacting, and wanted each minute to bring me something that would help me to live). But Jean Azévédo opened the door of the hut without protest and politely withdrew. He only followed me to Argelouse after having made certain that I saw no objection in it. How quickly we seemed to get home again, although my companion found the time to touch on many subjects: and he threw a strangely fresh light on those I thought I knew something of: on the religious question, for instance; as I was repeating what I used to say at home, he broke in: ‘Yes, no doubt ... but it’s more complicated than that....’ Indeed, some of his remarks seemed admirably new and illuminating.... Were they really so admirable?... I am pretty sure I should think it all poor stuff to-day: he said that he had long believed that nothing was of any importance except the search for, the pursuit of, God: ‘One must set forth across the sea; and avoid like the plague those who think they have found what they want, settle down, and build themselves shelters to sleep in; I have long despised them....’” * * * * *