He had a skimpy red beard streaked with grey, and mild blue eyes behind strong glasses.

He was the most friendly creature in the world, full of rapid questions, and eager to make me feel one of the family.

Presently he got into a tweed Norfolk jacket, and started to cultivate his garden.

I took off my coat and lent him a hand, and when he stopped to rest from his labours--which was every five minutes, for he had no kind of physique--he would mop his brow and rub his spectacles and declaim about the good smell of the earth and the joy of getting close to Nature.
Once he looked at my big brown hands and muscular arms with a kind of wistfulness.

'You are one of the doers, Mr Brand,' he said, 'and I could find it in my heart to envy you.