'He's taken a fancy to you,' they said; 'you are a lucky
beggar!'"
He sighed heavily. I felt there was a story attached.
"What did you do with it?" I asked.
"That was the trouble," he returned. "I didn't know what to do
with it. It was ten o'clock on Christmas Eve, just as I was
leaving, that he gave it to me. 'Tiddling Brothers have sent me a
goose, Biggles,' he said to me as I helped him on with his great-
coat. 'Very kind of 'em, but I don't want it myself; you can have
it!'
"Of course I thanked him, and was very grateful. He wished me a
merry Christmas and went out. I tied the thing up in brown paper,
and took it under my arm. It was a fine bird, but heavy.
"Under all the circumstances, and it being Christmas time, I
thought I would treat myself to a glass of beer. I went into a
quiet little house at the corner of the Lane and laid the goose on
the counter.
"'That's a big 'un,' said the landlord; 'you'll get a good cut off
him to-morrow.'
"His words set me thinking, and for the first time it struck me
that I didn't want the bird--that it was of no use to me at all. I
was going down to spend the holidays with my young lady's people in
Kent.
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