Drolls from Shadowland

" ...]rustling of his leaves he fell healthily asleep. He was awakened presently by the gracious dawn, by the sweet and wholesome breath of morning, and the flash of the sunrise and the singing of birds. And had it not been for the dew-crumpled volume that now lay blotched and smirched at his feet, he would have forgotten his manhood and the unquiet life of cities and would have looked for his brothers only among the trees. But so long as the volume lay there forlornly, so long he remembered, and had something to regret. But the days passed-he could now keep no count of them-and ...]."