' The phrase had slipped suddenly into his mind.
'Really, really, Mr. Rogers, but how very jo--delightful it sounds.'
He thought of the stubble fields and treeless sea-coast where he had
been. The language, however, astonished him. Enthusiasm like this
could only spring from a big emotion. His heart sank a little.
'And the people all so friendly and hospitable and simple that you
could go climbing with your bootmaker or ask your baker in to dine and
sleep. No snobbery! Sympathy everywhere and a big free life flowing in
your veins.' This settled it. Only a lover finds the whole world
lovable.
'One must know the language, though,' said Minks, 'in order to enjoy
the people and understand them, I suppose?'
'Not a bit, not a bit! One _feels_ it all, you see; somehow one feels
it and understands. A few words useful here and there, but one gets
along without even these. I never knew such a place. Every one seemed
to be in sympathy together. They think it, as it were. It was regular
fairyland, I tell you.'
'Which means that _you_ felt and thought it,' said Minks to himself.
Aloud he merely remarked, though with conviction, for he was getting
interested, 'Thinking is important, I know.'
Rogers laid his pipe aside and suddenly turned upon him--so abruptly
that Minks started.
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