I recollect counting over perfectly the possibilities, reminding myself that nothing was more natural, for instance, than the appearance of one of the men about the place, or even of a messenger, a postman, or a tradesman’s boy, from the village. That reminder had as little effect on my practical certitude as I was conscious⁠—still even without looking⁠—of its having upon the character and attitude of our visitor. Nothing was more natural than that these things should be the other things that they absolutely were not.