"'Arf past eight."
"Correct. That tree is thirty feet high. Or thereabouts."
"What of that?"
"I should say it could be seen by anybody inside that stone wall. By you, when you're inside them. Now, Sophy, otherwise Maria, you have peculiarities. One, that you're dumb."
"Inside them walls," said Sophy, "I am. Dumb as a fish."
"Another, that you've an unconquerable habit of shying stones."
"I'm a dab at that," said Sophy.
"As a friendly patient," continued Bob, "you must be indulged. When you get it into your head to shy stones you're to be let alone. That's one of the conditions of your becoming a friendly patient."
"I twig. I'm to shy stones at that tree."
"You are. At certain times of the day. At twelve o'clock by the silver watch. At four o'clock by the same."