They now remembered what the Duchess had told them of the lovely and dangerous waters, where the Sylphs had their manor.
"Let us go there," said Bee.
This decision overwhelmed George, who gaped and said:
"The Duchess has forbidden us to go out alone, and how can we get to this lake, which is at the end of the world?"
"How to get there I really don't know, but you ought to, who are a man and have a grammar master."
George was stung, and answered that it is possible to be a man, and even a fine man, without knowing all the roads in the world. Bee gave him a mincing, disdainful look, made him blush to the tips of his ears, and said to him primly:
"I am not the one who promised to conquer the blue mountains and to unhook the moon. I do not know the road to the lake, but I will find it; you see!"
"Ha! ha! ha!" said George, trying to laugh.
"You laugh like a booby, sir."
"Bee, boobies neither laugh nor cry."