Heaven knows our separation had not been long, and many an unkind slap has the Mother given me in the bygone; yet the mere sight of her was tonic, a lethe of troubles, a sedative for tired nerves; and I gazed that morning at the illimitable blue, the great, unfettered road to everywhere, the ever-varied, the immutable, the thing which was before everything and shall be last of all, in an ecstasy of affection.
There was also other satisfaction at hand.

Not a mile away lay a well-defined road--doubtless the one spoken of by the wood-cutter--and where the track pointed to the seashore the low roofs and circling smoke of a Thither township showed.
There I went hot-footed, and, much too hungry to be nice in formality, swung up to the largest building on the waterside quay and demanded breakfast of the man who was lounging by its doorway chewing a honey reed.

He looked me up and down without emotion, then, falling into the common mistake, said, "This is not a hostel for ghosts, sir.

We do not board and lodge phantoms here; this is a dry fish shop." "Thrice blessed trade!" I answered.

"Give me some dried fish, good fellow, or, for the matter of that, dried horse or dog, or anything mortal teeth can bite through, and I will show you my tastes are altogether mundane." But he shook his head.