I rose, and, for some reason, spent a long time washing myself, as was my wont in the morning before going to work, and my wife held the light.

Then we put out the light and walked over to the window overlooking the street.

It was spring; it was May, and the air that came in from the open window was such as we had never before felt in that old, large city.

For several days the factories and the roads had been idle; and the air, free from smoke, was filled with the fragrance of the fields and the flowering gardens, perhaps with that of the dew.

I do not know what it is that smells so wonderfully on spring nights when I go out far beyond the outskirts of the city.