"In that field, Adele, I was walking late one evening about a fortnight since--the evening of the day you helped me to make hay in the orchard meadows; and, as I was tired with raking swaths, I sat down to rest me on a stile; and there I took out a little book and a pencil, and began to write about a misfortune that befell me long ago, and a wish I had for happy days to come: I was writing away very fast, though daylight was fading from the leaf, when something came up the path and stopped two yards off me.
— In quel campo passeggiavo quindici giorni sono.... la sera del giorno nel quale mi aiutaste a riporre il fieno nella capanna. Siccome ero stanco, mi misi a seder là, presi una matita e un taccuino e incominciai a scrivere la narrazione di un dolore che mi aveva colpito molto tempo addietro; scrivevo presto presto, benché fosse quasi notte, quando vidi avanzarsi qualcuno sulla via, e fermarsi a due metri di distanza da me.