The sun had set, the sky was a vivid tranquillity of green and yellow, and against that he came out black⁠—the oddest little figure.

He was a short, round-bodied, thin-legged little man, with a jerky quality in his motions; he had seen fit to clothe his extraordinary mind in a cricket cap, an overcoat, and cycling knickerbockers and stockings. Why he did so I do not know, for he never cycled and he never played cricket. It was a fortuitous concurrence of garments, arising I know not how. He gesticulated with his hands and arms, and jerked his head about and buzzed . He buzzed like something electric. You never heard such buzzing. And ever and again he cleared his throat with a most extraordinary noise.