I felt very happy. How
strange, thought I, with a little self-flattery, that I,
accustomed to the agreeable society of intelligent men and
charming women, and of books, should find such perfect
contentment here! But I congratulated myself too soon. The
profound silence began at length to oppress me. It was not like
the forest, where one has wild birds for company, where their
cries, albeit inarticulate, have a meaning and give a charm to
solitude. Even the sight and whispered sounds of green leaves
and rushes trembling in the wind have for us something of
intelligence and sympathy; but I could not commune with mud walls
and an earthen pot. Feeling my loneliness too acutely, I began
to regret that I had left Rima, then to feel remorse at the
secrecy I had practiced. Even now while I inclined idly in my
hammock, she would be roaming the forest in search of me,
listening for my footsteps, fearing perhaps that I had met with
some accident where there was no person to succour me. It was
painful to think of her in this way, of the pain I had doubtless
given her by stealing off without a word of warning.
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