Part 13

“When I want to play,” he said, gravely, “I have to go and play in the street; but it's poor fun, I grant you. There's a goat, though, not far off, and sometimes I talk to him when I'm feeling lonely; but he's very proud.”

“Goats ARE proud,” I admitted. “There's one lives near here, and if you say anything to him at all, he hits you in the wind with his head. You know what it feels like when a fellow hits you in the wind?”

“I do, well,” he replied, in a tone of proper melancholy, and painted on.

“And have you been to any other places,” I began again, presently, “besides Rome and Piccy-what's-his-name?”

“Heaps,” he said. “I'm a sort of Ulysses--seen men and cities, you know. In fact, about the only place I never got to was the Fortunate Island.”

I began to like this man. He answered your questions briefly and to the point, and never tried to be funny. I felt I could be confidential with him.

“Wouldn't you like,” I inquired, “to find a city without any people in it at all?”

He looked puzzled. “I'm afraid I don't quite understand,” said he.

“I mean,” I went on eagerly, “a city where you walk in at the gates, and the shops are all full of beautiful things, and the houses furnished as grand as can be, and there isn't anybody there whatever! And you go into the shops, and take anything you want--chocolates and magic lanterns and injirubber balls--and there's nothing to pay; and you choose your own house and live there and do just as you like, and never go to bed unless you want to!”

The artist laid down his brush. “That WOULD be a nice city,” he said. “Better than Rome. You can't do that sort of thing in Rome,--or in Piccadilly either. But I fear it's one of the places I've never been to.”

“And you'd ask your friends,” I went on, warming to my subject,--“only those you really like, of course,--and they'd each have a house to themselves,--there'd be lots of houses,--and no relations at all, unless they promised they'd be pleasant, and if they weren't they'd have to go.”

“So you wouldn't have any relations?” said the artist. “Well, perhaps you're right. We have tastes in common, I see.”

“I'd have Harold,” I said, reflectively, “and Charlotte. They'd like it awfully. The others are getting too old. Oh, and Martha--I'd have Martha, to cook and wash up and do things. You'd like Martha. She's ever so much nicer than Aunt Eliza. She's my idea of a real lady.”

“Then I'm sure I should like her,” he replied, heartily, “and when I come to--what do you call this city of yours? Nephelo--something, did you say?”

“I--I don't know,” I replied, timidly. “I'm afraid it hasn't got a name--yet.”

The artist gazed out over the downs. “'The poet says, dear city of Cecrops;'” he said, softly, to himself, “'and wilt not thou say, dear city of Zeus?' That's from Marcus Aurelius,” he went on, turning again to his work. “You don't know him, I suppose; you will some day.”

“Who's he?” I inquired.

“Oh, just another fellow who lived in Rome,” he replied, dabbing away.

“O dear!” I cried, disconsolately. “What a lot of people seem to live at Rome, and I've never even been there! But I think I'd like MY city best.”

“And so would I,” he replied with unction. “But Marcus Aurelius wouldn't, you know.”

“Then we won't invite him,” I said, “will we?”

“I won't if you won't,” said he. And that point being settled, we were silent for a while.

“Do you know,” he said, presently, “I've met one or two fellows from time to time who have been to a city like yours,--perhaps it was the same one. They won't talk much about it--only broken hints, now and then; but they've been there sure enough. They don't seem to care about anything in particular--and every thing's the same to them, rough or smooth; and sooner or later they slip off and disappear; and you never see them again. Gone back, I suppose.”

“Of course,” said I. “Don't see what they ever came away for; I wouldn't,--to be told you've broken things when you haven't, and stopped having tea with the servants in the kitchen, and not allowed to have a dog to sleep with you. But I've known people, too, who've gone there.”

The artist stared, but without incivility.

“Well, there's Lancelot,” I went on. “The book says he died, but it never seemed to read right, somehow. He just went away, like Arthur. And Crusoe, when he got tired of wearing clothes and being respectable. And all the nice men in the stones who don't marry the Princess, 'cos only one man ever gets married in a book, you know. They'll be there!”

“And the men who never come off,” he said, “who try like the rest, but get knocked out, or somehow miss,--or break down or get bowled over in the melee,--and get no Princess, nor even a second-class kingdom,--some of them'll be there, I hope?”

“Yes, if you like,” I replied, not quite understanding him; “if they're friends of yours, we'll ask 'em, of course.”