Book One - Chapter 10 Which Relates The End of an Honorable Affair

Some half-mile along the road, upon the left hand, was a stile,
and beyond the stile, a path--a path that led away over field,
and meadow, and winding stream, to the blue verge of distant
woods.

Now, midway between these woods and the place where I stood, there
moved three figures; and, far away though they were, I could still
make out that the middle one walked with his hands--those tremulous
betraying hands thrust deep within his pockets.

And presently I climbed the stile, and set off along the path.

"Sir Jasper!" said I to myself. Somewhere in the background of
my consciousness I had a vague recollection of having heard
mention of such a name before, but exactly when and where I could
not, for the life of me, remember.

"Sir Jasper!" said I to myself again. "It is a very uncommon
name, and should be easy to recollect." I had often prided
myself on possessing a singularly retentive memory, more
especially for names and faces, but, upon the present occasion,
the more I pondered the matter, the more hazy I became. So I
walked on through the sweet, wet grass, racking my brain for a
solution of the problem, but finding none.

When I again looked up, the three figures had vanished where the
path took a sharp bend round a clump of pollard oaks, and,
determined not to lose them, I hurried my steps; but when I, in
turn, rounded the corner, not a soul was in sight.