“And _that_ somefin would have to go by the post, whatever it was!” Bruno eagerly exclaimed. “Suppose it was a cow! Wouldn’t it be _dreadful_ for the other things!”
“And all these things happened to _him_,” said the Professor. “That’s what makes the song so interesting.”
“He must have had a very curious life,” said Sylvie.
“You may say that!” the Professor heartily rejoined.
By this time we had come up to the Gardener, who was standing on one leg, as usual, and busily employed in watering a bed of flowers with an empty watering-can.
“It hasn’t got no water in it!” Bruno explained to him, pulling his sleeve to attract his attention.
“It’s lighter to hold,” said the Gardener. “A lot of water in it makes one’s arms ache.” And he went on with his work, singing softly to himself
“In digging things out of the ground—which you probably do now and then,” the Professor began in a loud voice; “in making things into heaps—which no doubt you often do; and in kicking things about with one heel—which you seem never to leave off doing; have you ever happened to notice another Professor, something like me, but different?”
“Never!” shouted the Gardener, so loudly and violently that we all drew back in alarm.
“We will try a less exciting topic,” the Professor mildly remarked to the children. “You were asking——”
“We asked him to let us through the garden-door,” said Sylvie: “but he wouldn’t: but perhaps he would for _you_!”
The Professor put the request, very humbly and courteously.
“I wouldn’t mind letting _you_ out,” said the Gardener. “But I mustn’t open the door for _children_. D’you think I’d disobey the _Rules_? Not for one-and-sixpence!”
The Professor cautiously produced a couple of shillings.
“That’ll do it!” the Gardener shouted, as he hurled the watering-can across the flower-bed, and produced a handful of keys—one large one, and a number of small ones.
“But look here, Professor dear!” whispered Sylvie. “He needn’t open the door for _us_, at all. We can go out with _you_.”
“True, dear child!” the Professor thankfully replied, as he replaced the coins in his pocket. “That saves two shillings!” And he took the children’s hands, that they might all go out together when the door was opened. This, however, did not seem a very likely event, though the Gardener patiently tried all the small keys, over and over again.