I walked my bicycle slap in front of him.
"'Good-night, Major,' I said.
"He stared at me as if he didn't know me. Then he seemed to pull
himself together and said: 'Good-night, Gedge. What are you doing
out at this time of night?'
"'If it comes to that, sir,' said I, 'what are you?'
"Then he says, very haughty, as if I was the dirt under his feet--
I suppose, Sir Anthony Fenimore and Major Meredyth, you think that
me and my class are by divine prescription the dirt beneath your
feet, but you're damn well mistaken--then he says: 'What the devil
do you mean?' and catches hold of the front wheel of the bicycle
and swings it and me out of his way so that I had a nasty fall,
with the machine on top of me, and he marches off. I picked myself
up furious with anger. I am an elderly man and not accustomed to
that sort of treatment. I yelled out: 'What have you been doing
with the Squire's daughter on the towing-path?' It pulled him up
short. He made a step or two towards me, and again he asked me
what I meant. And this time I told him. He called me a liar, swore
he had never been on any tow-path or had seen any squire's
daughter, and threatened to murder me.
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