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receive a most hospitable welcome. I determined therefore
to accept the invitation.
We started two or three days later, and after a night on
the road, we arrived at our destination towards evening. It
was now full spring, and as nearly as might be ten months
since I had started with Chowbok on my expedition, but it
seemed more like ten years. The trees were in their freshest
beauty, and the air had become warm without being op-
pressively hot. After having lived so many months in the
metropolis, the sight of the country, and the country vil-
lages through which we passed refreshed me greatly, but I
could not forget my troubles. The last five miles or so were
the most beautiful part of the journey, for the country be-
came more undulating, and the woods were more extensive;
but the first sight of the city of the colleges itself was the
most delightful of all. I cannot imagine that there can be
any fairer in the whole world, and I expressed my pleasure
to my companion, and thanked him for having brought
me.
We drove to an inn in the middle of the town, and then,
while it was still light, my friend the cashier, whose name
was Thims, took me for a stroll in the streets and in the
court-yards of the principal colleges. Their beauty and in-
terest were extreme; it was impossible to see them without
being attracted towards them; and I thought to myself that
he must be indeed an ill-grained and ungrateful person
who can have been a member of one of these colleges with-
out retaining an affectionate feeling towards it for the rest
of his life. All my misgivings gave way at once when I saw

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