CHAPTER II.
The new-mown grass was already fading in the sun when Anton shook the hand of the neighbor who had accompanied him as far as the nearest station to the capital, and then walked off merrily along the high road.
The day was bright, the mower was heard whetting his scythe in the meadows close by, and the indefatigable lark sang high overhead.

On all sides rose church-towers, central points of villages buried in woods, near many of which might be seen a stately baronial residence.
Anton hurried on as if his feet were winged; the future lay before him sunny as the plain, a life of radiant dreams and evergreen hopes; his heart beat high, his eyes beamed, he felt intoxicated by the beauty and the fragrance around him.

Whenever he saw a mower, he called out to him that it was a lovely day, and got many a friendly greeting in return.
The very birds seemed as though they congratulated him, and cheered him onward.
He now took a footpath that led through a meadow, crossed a bridge, and found himself in a plantation with neatly-graveled paths.

As he went on, it more and more assumed the character of a garden; a sudden turn, and he stood on a grass-plot, and saw a gentleman's seat, with two side towers and a balcony, rise before him.

Vines and climbing roses ran up the towers, and beneath the balcony was a vestibule well filled with flowers.