Bishop. "Keep your worm, and, when we get to the river-bank, we'll introduce him to the country worms, and maybe he'll like them so well he'll marry and settle down there for the rest of his days."
"If he could see a lady-worm he'd like," stipulated The Seraph.
"He'd have a wide choice," said the Bishop. "The country is full of worms, some of them charming, I daresay."
"And, I say," chuckled Angel, "you could perform the ceremony—if only we knew their names."
"This is Charles Augustus," said The Seraph with dignity.
"She'd likely be Ernestine," I put in.
"Very well," said the Bishop. "It should proceed thus: 'I, Charles Augustus, take thee, Ernestine, to have and to hold'—and I do wish, Harry, that you'd have a care and hold Merrylegs in. He's almost taking our breath away. Such a speed is undignified, and bad for the digestion."
It was true that the fat pony was in amazing spirits that morning. Shops and houses were passed with exhilarating speed. To us little fellows, who always walked with our governess, when we went abroad, it was intoxicating.
Soon the town was left behind and we were
[192]
