Without so much as glancing back at him I advanced along the footpath, my hands in my pockets.

Yet my mind leaped from point to point in eager speculation.

The whole thing was puzzling.

I had come expecting a mere bit of play-acting, with all details left in the control of others.

I anticipated no more than a few weeks of idleness, with, perhaps, the overseeing of a plantation, to partially keep my time occupied.