‘I’ remarked Helen, ‘am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley.’

She laid great stress on the ‘and,’ which gave a perfectly¹ new significance to the verse.

‘The French for lily of the valley is muguet,’ said Legs, with an intolerably superior air.

‘Oh, don’t show off!’ said she. ‘The great thing in walking along a rail is to keep your balance.’

‘Through the looking-glass,’ said I. ‘Upon which the White Knight² fell head foremost into a hole——’

‘And kept on saying “Plenty of practice,”’ said Legs.

‘It’s easier if you wave your arms,’ said she. ‘Oh, there’s a train coming. Where’s the gum?’

{150}

Legs had the gum—a small penny bottle—and Helen hastily gummed a penny to the rail, and we all retired³ to the side of the line.

If you merely lay a penny on the rail, the chances are that the first wheel that goes over it causes it to jump, and it falls off, whereas if you gum it——

There was a wild maniac⁵ shriek⁶ from the engine, suddenly dropping an octave as it passed us, and the huge train, towering high above us, thundered by with rattle⁷ of wheels and the throbbing⁸ oscillation of very high speed. A dozen bits of paper came trundling and dancing after it. The rear of the van telescoped itself into a tiny square, and the signal just above us, which had been down to let the train pass, shot up a warning, right-angled arm.

‘Oh, well over sixty,’ said Legs, with deep appreciation⁹, ‘and there’s the penny sitting as tight as, as—I don’t know. Lord, how hot!’

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