Here's luck to 'ee, Susan Warne!" he piped
out, addressing one of the women; "an' if you want a name for your
seventh, you may christen 'en after the engine here, the _Wonder of
the Age_."
We waved our hats and jolted off again towards Tregarrick. At the
end of the journey the railway officials declined to charge for
the pleasure of my company. But after some dispute, they agreed to
compromise by adjourning to the Railway Inn, and drinking prosperity
to Susan Warne's seventh.
THE CONSPIRACY ABOARD THE _MIDAS_.
"Are you going home to England? So am I. I'm Johnny; and I've never
been to England before, but I know all about it. There's great palaces
of gold and ivory--that's for the lords and bishops--and there's
Windsor Castle, the biggest of all, carved out of a single
diamond--that's for the queen. And she's the most beautiful lady in
the whole world, and feeds her peacocks and birds of paradise out of
a ruby cup. And there the sun is always shining, so that nobody wants
any candles. O, words would fail me if I endeavoured to convey to you
one-half of the splendours of that enchanted realm!"
This last sentence tumbled so oddly from the childish lips, that I
could not hide a smile as I looked down on my visitor.
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