Another man might have thought he had gone mad, but Brown did not.

When romantic ladies gushed over his V.C.and his military exploits, he sometimes felt himself to be a painfully prosaic person, but by the same token he knew he was incurably sane.

Another man, again, might have thought himself a victim of a passing practical joke, but Brown could not easily believe this.

He knew from his own quaint learning that the garden arrangement was an elaborate and expensive one; he thought it extravagantly improbable that any one would pour out money like water for a joke against him.

Having no explanation whatever to offer, he admitted the fact to himself, like a clear-headed man, and waited as he would have done in the presence of a man with six legs.
At this moment the stout old man with white whiskers looked up, and the watering can fell from his hand, shooting a swirl of water down the gravel path.
"Who on earth are you ?" he gasped, trembling violently.
"I am Major Brown," said that individual, who was always cool in the hour of action.
The old man gaped helplessly like some monstrous fish.