Summer passed away in these occupations, and my return to Geneva
was fixed for the latter end of autumn; but being delayed by
several accidents, winter and snow arrived, the roads were
deemed impassable, and my journey was retarded until the ensuing
spring. I felt this delay very bitterly; for I longed to see my
native [town,] <town> and my beloved
friends. My return had only been delayed so [long]
<long,> from an unwillingness to leave Clerval in
a strange place, before he had become acquainted with any of its
inhabitants. The winter, however, was spent cheerfully; and
although the spring was uncommonly late, when it came, its
beauty compensated for its dilatoriness.
The month of May had already commenced, and I expected the
letter daily which was to fix the date of my departure, when
Henry proposed a pedestrian tour in the environs of
{MS Ingolstadt} [Ingoldstadt]
<Ingolstadt,> that I might bid a personal
farewell to the country I had so long inhabited. I acceded with
pleasure to this proposition: I was fond of exercise, and
Clerval had always been my favourite companion in the rambles of
this nature that I had taken among the scenes of my native
country.