"My dear friend," said he, "as long as water has the clumsy habit of running down hill, I fear we must humour it by going up- stairs when we have our faces turned from the sea.

And really I don't see why you should fall foul of Maple-Durham lock, which I think a very pretty place." There was no doubt about the latter assertion, I thought, as I looked up at the overhanging boughs of the great trees, with the sun coming glittering through the leaves, and listened to the song of the summer blackbirds as it mingled with the sound of the backwater near us.

So not being able to say why I wanted the locks away--which, indeed, I didn't do at all--I held my peace.

But Walter said-- "You see, guest, this is not an age of inventions.

The last epoch did all that for us, and we are now content to use such of its inventions as we find handy, and leaving those alone which we don't want.