At the same moment he saw in the middle of the college court another person who called him by name in very civil and obliging terms, and told him that if he cared to go in search of Monsieur N., the latter had something to give him. M. Descartes imagined that it was a melon that had been brought from some foreign country. But what surprised him still more was to see that those who together with this person were gathering round him for conversation stood on their feet straight and steady, whereas he himself on this same ground was still bowed and staggering, and that the wind which more than once had been on the point of upsetting him had become less strong. With these imaginations in mind he awoke and, as he did so, felt a pain that caused him to fear that all this was the work of some evil genius bent on seducing him. He turned at once on to his right side, for it was on his left side that he had gone to sleep and had his dream. He addressed a prayer to God begging to be protected from the evil effect of his dream and to be preserved from any misfortunes that might menace him in punishment for his sins, which, so he recognized, might be grievous enough to draw upon his head the bolts of divine vengeance--however irreproachable his life might hitherto have been in the eyes of men.