Then, as he repeated it to himself, he fell asleep.
"Young man," said a voice in his ear as he slept.

At first the voice spoke as a voice from his dream without waking him, but when it was repeated, he sat up and saw that a stout gentleman was standing over him.

For a moment he did not know where he was, or how he had come there; nor could he recollect, as he saw the trees about him, how long he had been in the wood.

But he knew the stout gentleman well enough, though he had not seen him for more than two years.

"Young man," said the voice, "if you want to catch rheumatism, that's the way to do it.