She did not reply directly to my endeavours to draw her out. "It is very kind of you to make the best of us," she said a little coldly.
"Please don't be offended at my ignorance of the way things go here," I said. "I have lived all my life in different surroundings, and it is all quite new to me."
This speech did nothing to alter her slight air of coolness. "We don't live in this way for fun," she said; and I made haste to explain further.
"I don't mean that at all," I said. "I mean that the whole life of Upsidonia is new to me, poor as well as rich. In my country things are different altogether."
"How do you mean--in your country?" she asked with a puzzled air.
"I come from England," I said. "It is very much like Upsidonia in some ways; in others it is quite different."
She received my information in the same way as Edward had done. "England!" she repeated. "Where is that? I thought I was rather good at geography; I took a prize in it at school. But I have never heard of England. What direction is it in, and how did you come here?"
"I walked over the moors," I said. "I have been walking for some days. I found myself yesterday evening in a wood just the other side of Culbut."
A light seemed to break in on her. "Oh, I see!" she exclaimed. "You came over the hills. You are a Highlander! That is very interesting. No wonder you look down a little on us Culbutians! But what made you leave that paradise to come here? And why didn't you tell us before that you were a Highlander? I am sure my father and mother would have been very flattered."
She seemed quite excited, and regarded me with curiosity not unmixed with reverence.[14]
"Well, I have never called myself a Highlander, exactly," I said. "In England we call the Scotch Highlanders."
"England! Scotch!" she repeated. "How extraordinary it is! I must get you to show it to me on a map."
"Yes, I should like to see a map," I said. "You see, everything is very different with us."
"Oh, I know it is. You are the most fortunate people in the world. All this must seem very extraordinary to you, and I'm afraid rather painful. I wonder you take it all as naturally as you do. I suppose you have never seen a house like this before?"
"It is certainly a very charming house," I said, "but it is not altogether unlike the one I was brought up in near London."
