They walked out together.
“Watson, old man,” said Antony, as soon as they were away from the house, “you really mustn’t talk so loudly indoors. There was a gentleman outside, just behind you, all the time.”
“Oh, I say,” said Bill, going pink. “I’m awfully sorry. So that’s why you were talking such rot.”
“Partly, yes. And partly because I do feel rather bright this morning. We’re going to have a busy day.”
“Are we really? What are we going to do?”
“They’re going to drag the pond—beg its pardon, the lake. Where is the lake?”
“We’re on the way to it now, if you’d like to see it.”
“We may as well look at it. Do you haunt the lake much in the ordinary way?”
“Oh, no, rather not. There’s nothing to do there.”
“You can’t bathe?”