--more simple than the English
were commonly supposed to be. There were people who had thought him
affected; she didn't know whether they meant that his simplicity was an
affectation. Some of his questions were too discouraging; he thought all
the chambermaids were farmers' daughters--or all the farmers' daughters
were chambermaids--she couldn't exactly remember which. He hadn't seemed
able to grasp the great school system; it had been really too much
for him. On the whole he had behaved as if there were too much of
everything--as if he could only take in a small part. The part he had
chosen was the hotel system and the river navigation. He had seemed
really fascinated with the hotels; he had a photograph of every one
he had visited. But the river steamers were his principal interest;
he wanted to do nothing but sail on the big boats. They had travelled
together from New York to Milwaukee, stopping at the most interesting
cities on the route; and whenever they started afresh he had wanted
to know if they could go by the steamer. He seemed to have no idea of
geography--had an impression that Baltimore was a Western city and was
perpetually expecting to arrive at the Mississippi. He appeared never
to have heard of any river in America but the Mississippi and was
unprepared to recognise the existence of the Hudson, though obliged to
confess at last that it was fully equal to the Rhine. They had spent
some pleasant hours in the palace-cars; he was always ordering ice-cream
from the coloured man. He could never get used to that idea--that you
could get ice-cream in the cars. Of course you couldn't, nor fans,
nor candy, nor anything in the English cars! He found the heat quite
overwhelming, and she had told him she indeed expected it was
the biggest he had ever experienced. He was now in England,
hunting--"hunting round" Henrietta called it. These amusements were
those of the American red men; we had left that behind long ago, the
pleasures of the chase. It seemed to be generally believed in England
that we wore tomahawks and feathers; but such a costume was more in
keeping with English habits. Mr. Bantling would not have time to join
her in Italy, but when she should go to Paris again he expected to come
over. He wanted very much to see Versailles again; he was very fond of
the ancient regime. They didn't agree about that, but that was what she
liked Versailles for, that you could see the ancient regime had been
swept away. T