noon
There is the world , then , invading with all its pomp my beloved solitude . I curse it , Paul , with all the bitterness of my heart . I became indebted to it , last night , it is true , for a fantastic apparition that both charmed and delighted me ; but I am also indebted to it to-day for a ridiculous adventure which I am the only one not to laugh at , for I was its unlucky hero . I was but little disposed to work this morning ; I went on sketching , however , until noon , but had to give it up then ; my head was heavy , I felt dull and disagreeable , I had a vague presentiment of something fatal in the air . I returned for a moment to the mill to get rid of my traps ; I quarreled , to her surprise and grief , with the miller 's wife , on the subject of I know not what cruelly indigenous mess she had served me for breakfast ; I scolded the good woman 's two children because they were touching my pencils ; finally , I administered a vigorous kick to the house-dog , accompanied with the celebrated formula : `` Judge whether you had done anything to me ! '' Rather dissatisfied with myself , as you may imagine , after these three mean little tricks , I directed my steps toward the forest , in order to hide as much as possible from the light of the day . I walked about for nearly an hour without being able to shake off the prophetic melancholy that oppressed me .