! How fresh and pleasant, how full of verdure, was everything! And I had not seen anything green for such a long time! During my illness I used to think that I should never get better, that I was certainly going to die. Judge, then, how I felt yesterday! True, I may have seemed to you a little sad, and you must not be angry with me for that. Happy and lighthearted though I was, there were moments, even at the height of my felicity, when, for some unknown reason, depression came sweeping over my soul. I kept weeping about trifles, yet could not say why I was grieved. The truth is that I am unwell⁠—so much so, that I look at everything from the gloomy point of view. The pale, clear sky, the setting sun, the evening stillness⁠—ah, somehow I felt disposed to grieve and feel hurt at these things; my heart seemed to be overcharged, and to be calling for tears to relieve it. But why should I write this to you? It is difficult for my heart to express itself; still more difficult for it to forego self-expression. Yet possibly you may understand me. Tears and laughter!⁠ ⁠… How good you are, Makar Alexievitch! Yesterday you looked into my eyes as though you could read in them all that I was feeling⁠—as though you were rejoicing at my happiness.