I couldn't, really." "Do what ?" she asked, still angry.

Septimus did not know that beneath the fur-lined jacket her heart was thumping madly.
"Drown yourself," said Septimus.
"In the pond ?" she laughed hysterically.

"In three feet of water?
How do you think I was going to manage it ?" Septimus reflected.

He had not thought of the pond's inadequate depth.
"You might have lain down at the bottom until it was all over," he remarked in perfect seriousness.

"I once heard of a servant girl who drowned herself in a basin of water." Emmy turned impatiently and, walking on, waved him away; but he accompanied her mechanically.
"Oh, don't follow me," she cried in a queer voice.