He Often Does This

After I had had lunch at a village inn, I looked for my bag. I had left it on a chair beside the door and now it wasn’t there! As I was looking for it, the inn-keeper came in.

‘Did you have a good meal?’ he asked.

‘Yes, thank you,’ I answered, ‘but I can’t pay the bill. I haven’t got my bag.’

The inn-keeper smiled and immediately went out. In a few minutes he returned with my bag and gave it back to me.

‘I’m very sorry,’ he said. ‘My dog had taken it into the garden. He often does this.’

(L.G. Alexander, Practice and Progress, Kanisius)