o take
me that way, not even if you begged hard! It is very useful for business
men, whose one idea is to save time, but for us who want to see all we
can of this glorious world it would be folly.

On the contrary, the route I should like to take is the very longest of
all, and that is by sea the whole way, on one of the great liners
running east. The real choice lies between this and the railway journey
across France to the seaport of Marseilles, or Toulon, according to
which of the great British lines of steamships we choose--the Peninsula
and Oriental, known as the P. & O., or the Orient. I am willing you
should decide between these routes. Think well. In order that you may
understand better what the choice means I will tell you what you will
see if we take the railway journey.

[Illustration: AT CHARING CROSS.]

We shall have to start one morning from Charing Cross Station in London.
All around us people are carrying bundles of rugs and magazines. Some,
like ourselves, are going far east and they are parting from those who
love them and will not see them again for a long time. That fair young
man standing by the carriage door looks little more than a big
schoolboy, but he is going out to India to help to govern there. He is a
clever fellow and has passed a very stiff examination to gain this
position, and he eagerly looks forward to all the new scenes in the life
awaiting him. His charming mother and sister are seeing him off; they
are so much alike they might be mistaken for sisters; they are trying to
talk and joke lightly, but you can see how hungrily the mother's eyes
are fastened on her son, as if she could never see him enough. Rightly
too, for when she meets him again, he will not be the boy he is now. His
face will be browned by the tropical sun, and he will have become a man;
he will have an air of command which comes naturally to a man who lives,
often by himself, in charge of a district, and has to rule and judge and
decide for the dark-skinned people.

Close beside us there are several men smoking big cigars, and one of
them says loudly, "All right, old chap, I'll bring one back for you next
week; I shall cross again on Monday." He runs over to Paris on business
every week and thinks no more of it than of going to his office in the
morning. A trip to France is very easy when you have the means to do it
comfortably.

Then we take our seats, and the train steams out of the station, leaving
the crowd