Well, sir, not meaning to be away more'n
a moment--as I was going up the meadow, but keeping along the
withy-bed, you understand?--and if I hadn't taken that road, more by
instinct than anything else--"
"Oh, for Heaven's sake, if you've anything important to say, say it!
In another five minutes the boats will be here!"
"I don't know what you'd call 'important,'" answered the Lieutenant,
in an aggrieved tone. "As I was telling, I got to where the
withy-bed ends at the foot of the orchard below the house.
The orchard, as you know, runs down on one side of the stream, and
'tother side there's the grass meadow they call Little Parc. Just at
that moment, if you'll believe me, I heard a man sneeze, and 'pon top
of that a noise like a horse's bit shaken--a sort of jingly sound,
not ten paces off, t'other side of the withies. 'Tis a curious habit
of mine--and you may or may not have noticed it--but I never can hear
another person sneeze without wanting to sneeze too. Hows'ever,
there's a way of stopping it by putting your thumb on your top lip
and pressing hard, and that's what I did, and managed to make very
little noise; so that it surprised me when somebody said, 'Be quiet,
you fool there!' But he must have meant it for the other man.
Well, ducking down behind the withies and peeking athurt the
darkness, by degrees I made out a picter that raised the very hairs
on the back of my neck.
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