“I--don't--quite--know--exactly,” I replied. “I just go. But generally it begins by--well, you're going up a broad, clear river in a sort of a boat. You're not rowing or anything--you're just moving along. And there's beautiful grass meadows on both sides, and the river's very full, quite up to the level of the grass. And you glide along by the edge. And the people are haymaking there, and playing games, and walking about; and they shout to you, and you shout back to them, and they bring you things to eat out of their baskets, and let you drink out of their bottles; and some of 'em are the nice people you read about in books. And so at last you come to the Palace steps--great broad marble steps, reaching right down to the water. And there at the steps you find every sort of boat you can imagine--schooners, and punts, and row-boats, and little men-of-war. And you have any sort of boating you want to--rowing, or sailing, or shoving about in a punt!”
“I'd go sailing,” she said decidedly: “and I'd steer. No, YOU'D have to steer, and I'd sit about on the deck. No, I wouldn't though; I'd row--at least I'd make you row, and I'd steer. And then we'd--Oh, no! I'll tell you what we'd do! We'd just sit in a punt and dabble!”
“Of course we'll do just what you like,” I said hospitably; but already I was beginning to feel my liberty of action somewhat curtailed by this exigent visitor I had so rashly admitted into my sanctum.
“I don't think we'd boat at all,” she finally decided. “It's always so WOBBLY. Where do you come to next?”
“You go up the steps,” I continued, “and in at the door, and the very first place you come to is the Chocolate-room!”
She brightened up at this, and I heard her murmur with gusto, “Chocolate-room!”
“It's got every sort of chocolate you can think of,” I went on: “soft chocolate, with sticky stuff inside, white and pink, what girls like; and hard shiny chocolate, that cracks when you bite it, and takes such a nice long time to suck!”
“I like the soft stuff best,” she said: “'cos you can eat such a lot more of it!”
This was to me a new aspect of the chocolate question, and I regarded her with interest and some respect. With us, chocolate was none too common a thing, and, whenever we happened to come by any, we resorted to the quaintest devices in order to make it last out. Still, legends had reached us of children who actually had, from time to time, as much chocolate as they could possibly eat; and here, apparently, was one of them.