; that would never do; I could not bear the noise--but in a fine
central place where nobody on earth could object to it--lively, and
close at hand for all of them. Unluckily I was just too late. We have
lost a Parliamentary year through that execrable calm--you remember all
about it. Otherwise we would have had Billy Puff stabled at Bruntsea
by the first of May. But never mind; we shall do it all the better and
cheaper by taking our time about it. Very well: we have the railway
opened and the trade of the place developed. We build a fine terrace of
elegant villas, a crescent also, and a large hotel replete with every
luxury; and we form the finest sea-parade in England by simply assisting
nature. Half London comes down here to bathe, to catch shrimps, to
flirt, and to do the rest of it. We become a select, salubrious,
influential, and yet economical place; and then what do we do, Mrs.
Hockin?"

"My dear, how can I tell? But I hope that we should rest and be
thankful."

"Not a bit of it. I should hope not, indeed. Erema, what do we do then?"

"It is useless to ask me. Well, then, perhaps you set up a handsome
saw-mill!"

"A saw-mill! What a notion of Paradise! No; this is what we do--but
remember that I speak in the strictest confidence; dishonest antagonism
might arise, if we ventilated our ideas too soon--Mrs. Hockin and Miss
Wood, we demand the restoration of our river!--the return of our river
to its ancient course."

"I see," said his wife; "oh, how grand that would be! and how beautiful
from our windows! That really, now, is a noble thought!"

"A just one--simply a just one. Justice ought not to be noble, my
dear, however rare it may be. Generosity, magnanimity, heroism, and so
on--those are the things we call noble, my dear."

"And the founding of cities. Oh, my dear, I remember, when I was at
school, it was always said, in what we called our histories, that
the founders of cities had honors paid them, and altars built, and
divinities done, and holidays held in their honor."

"To that I object," cried the Major, sternly. "If I founded fifty
cities, I would never allow one holiday. The Sabbath is enough; one day
in seven--fifteen per cent, of one's whole time; and twenty per cent, of
your Sunday goes in church. Very right, of course, and loyal, and truly
edifying--Mrs. Hockin's father was a clergyman, Miss Wood; and the last
thing I would ever allow on my manor would be a Dissenting chapel; but
still I wi