John is out for a morning walk through the town.  It is a clear winter morning, and there is snow on the ground.  He passes the schoolhouse, which is empty because of the Christmas holiday season.  Since he knows the schoolmaster and his wife are probably not busy, he decides to pay them a visit.

He asks Mr. Bloomfield, the schoolmaster, what story he plans to bring for the next evening, and Mr. Bloomfield confesses it is only a short story, and such an odd one that he is afraid to read it, for fear it will be rejected, or worse, dissected by Percy's mother.  Even though the story is an odd one, he is unaccountably fond over it.  

John asks him whether the story is a true one, and to this Mr. Bloomfield protests.  Although his story is only a patchwork of fact and the fiction, somehow his heart knows this story.  John encourages Mr. Bloomfield to trust the group with his story, and bids the Bloomfields farewell.