“How curious!” he said as he shut them; “how very curious!”
Then he hummed to himself, straightened his collar at the glass, took a few little dancing steps round the room, and then stood irresolute, his hand on his chin.
“Now what did I come up for?” he said. “What did I come up for? Ah! A handkerchief.”
WILLIAM DASHED FOR THE
DOORWAY, UPSETTING THE OLD
GENTLEMAN ON HIS WAY.
All might have been well had not the Ancient Briton at this moment succumbed to the united effects of cold and dust, and emitted a resounding sneeze.
“Bless my soul!” said the old gentleman. “Bless my——”
He dived beneath the bed, and, seizing hold of William’s bare and muddy foot, he pulled. But William had firm hold of the further leg of the bed, and the old gentleman, exerting his utmost strength, only succeeded in pulling the bed across the room with William still firmly attached to it. But this treatment infuriated William.
“’F you’d kin’ly stop draggin’ me about on my stomach——” he began, then emerged, stern and dusty, and arranging his skimpy and dishevelled skin.
“You—you—you thief!” said the old man.