It pleased me to see the
delight he took in all about him; the fireplace with a fire in it; the
easy chairs, the Times, my cat, the red geraniums in the window, to
say nothing of coffee, bread and butter, sausages, marmalade, etc.
Everything was pregnant with the most exquisite pleasure to him. The
plane trees were full of leaf still; he kept rising from the breakfast
table to admire them; never till now, he said, had he known what the
enjoyment of these things really was. He ate, looked, laughed and
cried by turns, with an emotion which I can neither forget nor
describe.
He told me how his father and mother had lain in wait for him, as he
was about to leave prison. I was furious, and applauded him heartily
for what he had done. He was very grateful to me for this. Other
people, he said, would tell him he ought to think of his father and
mother rather than of himself, and it was such a comfort to find
someone who saw things as he saw them himself. Even if I had
differed from him I should not have said so, but I was of his opinion,
and was almost as much obliged to him for seeing things as I saw them,
as he to me for doing the same kind office by himself.
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