The sun is burning, the air is as hot as in a baker’s oven and it is no wonder that Mr. Brown, when taking a walk and suddenly finding himself at the bank of a brook, feels an irresistible inclination of diving in the cooling waves. Rapidly he takes a look round in the neighborhood, and not seeing a single soul, he starts undressing, but, “by Jove,” as he has come as far as the underwear, he hears the sound of steps coming up in his direction. Quickly he steps behind a small shrub, and here he is a most unwilling witness to an intimate rendezvous, which he against his own good will abbreviates by a rather inconvenient sneeze. This sneeze is the introduction to a row of adversities to which Mr. Brown is the subject, and the result is self-explanatory: From this day he swears to confine his bathing to a tub only.