map of Norway until they very nearly knew it by heart,
and when Paul came home for the Easter holidays they met him brimful of
information on the subject. But Paul was not going to allow himself to be
taught anything by 'the children,' as he called them, and he soon had them
sufficiently awed by his superior knowledge and loftier understanding.
He cared nothing for fairies, and quickly dashed all Stella's hopes of
seeing any, but he could teach them a great deal about the sports, and the
shooting, and the other attractions to be found there--at least, he
thought he could--but his father and mother had often to smile to
themselves as they listened to the marvellous stories he told the
children, and sometimes they had to check him to set him right on various
points, a thing he objected to very much indeed. For Paul had read so
much, heard so much, and thought so much of the marvels of that northern
land, that nothing was too impossible and improbable for him to believe,
and one night, just as he was going to bed, a new idea came to him, an
idea so splendid that it prevented for a long time his going to sleep, and
even after he was asleep he dreamed the whole night through that he was
having a terrific fight with a huge bear, and when he awoke in the morning
and thought that his dream might very likely prove a reality, he hardly
knew how to contain himself until he had made sure.

He tumbled into his bath and out again, and into his clothes in a shorter
time than it usually took him to make up his mind to get out of bed; and
rushing downstairs two or three steps at a time, burst like a tornado into
the dining-room, where his father and mother had assembled for prayers.

"I say," he shouted, without a thought as to whether he was interrupting
any conversation--"oh, I say, father, mother, aren't there big white bears
in the Norwegian fjords, white Polar bears, I mean? And shall we see
them, and if there are, may we go hunting when we are there? It would be
simply splendid; I'd rather go bear-hunting than anything; it would be
grand to kill a bear."

He had been so eager to get down and satisfy himself on this point that he
had not stayed to dress himself properly, and he burst into the room with
his collar unfastened, and his tie missing altogether. He was so eager,
too, that he did not notice the anxiety on his parents' faces, or in their
manner, and only wondered why they looked at him so sadly, and without
answering