"Well, I enjoy the sunlight--the atmosphere--I go along this path,
through that gate"--he jerked his head over his shoulder--"and round--"
"You don't. You never have been. It's all nonsense. There isn't a way.
To-night for instance--"
"Oh! to-night! Let me see. Ah! I just glanced at my watch, saw that I had
already been out just three minutes over the precise half-hour, decided
there was not time to go round, turned--"
"You always do."
He looked at me--reflected. "Perhaps I do, now I come to think of it. But
what was it you wanted to speak to me about?"
"Why, this!"
"This?"
"Yes. Why do you do it? Every night you come making a noise--"
"Making a noise?"
"Like this." I imitated his buzzing noise. He looked at me, and it was
evident the buzzing awakened distaste. "Do I do that?" he asked.
"Every blessed evening."
"I had no idea."
He stopped dead. He regarded me gravely. "Can it be," he said, "that I
have formed a Habit?"
"Well, it looks like it. Doesn't it?"
He pulled down his lower lip between finger and thumb. He regarded a
puddle at his feet.
"My mind is much occupied," he said. "And you want to know why! Well, sir,
I can assure you that not only do I not know why I do these things, but I
did not even know I did them. Come to think, it is just as you say;
I never _have_ been beyond that field.... And these things annoy you?"
For some reason I was beginning to relent towards him. "Not annoy,"
I said.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25