"The curious and sometimes creepy effect which Mr. Pond produced
upon me, despite his commonplace courtesy and dapper decorum, was
possibly connected with some memories of childhood; and the vague
verbal association of his name. He was a Government official who
was an old friend of my father; and I fancy my infantile
imagination had somehow mixed up the name of Mr. Pond with the pond
in the garden. When one came to think of it, he was curiously like
the pond in the garden. He was so quiet at all normal times, so
neat in shape and so shiny, so to speak, in his ordinary
reflections of earth and sky and the common daylight."