I have just mentioned that I sometimes fell asleep under the inspiration of obscure thoughts and reveries.  On the whole, I slept a great deal, and dreams played a prominent part in my life; I beheld visions almost every night.  I did not forget them, I attributed to them significance, I regarded them as prophetic, I strove to divine their secret import.  Some of them were repeated from time to time, which always seemed to me wonderful and strange.  I was particularly perturbed by one dream.  It seems to me that I am walking along a narrow, badly-paved street in an ancient town, between many-storied houses of stone, with sharp-pointed roofs.  I am seeking my father who is not dead, but is, for some reason, hiding from us, and is living in one of those houses.  And so I enter a low, dark gate, traverse a long courtyard encumbered with beams and planks, and finally make my way into a small chamber with two circular windows.  In the middle of the room stands my father, clad in a dressing-gown and smoking a pipe.  He does not in the least resemble my real father:  he is tall, thin, black-haired, he has a hooked nose, surly, piercing eyes; in appearance he is about forty years of age.  He is displeased because I have hunted him up; and I also am not in the least delighted at the meeting—­and I stand still, in perplexity.  He turns away slightly, begins to mutter something and to pace to and fro with short steps....  Then he retreats a little, without ceasing to mutter, and keeps constantly casting glances behind him, over his shoulder; the room widens out and vanishes in a fog....  I suddenly grow terrified at the thought that I am losing my father again.  I rush after him—­but I no longer see him, and can only hear his angry, bear-like growl....  My heart sinks within me.  I wake up, and for a long time cannot get to sleep again....  All the following day I think about that dream and, of course, am unable to arrive at any conclusion.

IV

The month of June had come.  The town in which my mother and I lived became remarkably animated at that season.  A multitude of vessels arrived at the wharves, a multitude of new faces presented themselves on the streets.  I loved at such times to stroll along the quay, past the coffee-houses and inns, to scan the varied faces of the sailors and other people who sat under the canvas awnings, at little white tables with pewter tankards filled with beer.

One day, as I was passing in front of a coffee-house, I caught sight of a man who immediately engrossed my entire attention.  Clad in a long black coat of peasant cut, with a straw hat pulled down over his eyes, he was sitting motionless, with his arms folded on his chest.  Thin rings of black hair descended to his very nose; his thin lips gripped the stem of a short pipe.  This man seemed so familiar to me, every feature of his swarthy, yellow face, his whole figure, were so indubitably stamped on my memory, that I could not do otherwise than halt before him, could not help putting to myself the question:  “Who is this man?  Where have I seen him?” He probably felt my intent stare, for he turned his black, piercing eyes upon me....  I involuntarily uttered a cry of surprise....