"Rather humble for the manager of the greatest show on earth," laughed Frank. "Finest high-dive artist in the world, Captain Ollory of the Royal Navy, Flying Lady, Fat Lady, Snake-eater—eats 'em alive,—biggest boa constrictor, living skeleton, largest Ferris Wheel——"
Lucia's face turned deeply crimson as she listened to this farrago. She did not know why she should blush for the manager—he certainly did not think it necessary to blush for himself. To divert attention from the mounting flush in her face she remarked as she rose from the table, "I'm going up in the Ferris Wheel at any rate."
"And so am I," said Ruth. "I'll snatch that joy while it is within my reach."
The turmoil they anticipated ensued instantly.
"For heaven's sake," Mrs. Laniston solemnly adjured them. "Mr. Jardine, in pity on me let's get them back to the mountains. They will rack my nerves to pieces. The idea—to go up in a Ferris Wheel!"
"It is not an intellectual amusement, nor elegant in any sense, but it is perfectly safe," said Jardine.
"I have been east and west and north and south, yet was I never in a Ferris Wheel," said Lucia, locking her arm in Ruth's as they stood by the table preparatory to issuing from the room.
"I have crossed the ocean, I have visited the Colosseum by moonlight, I have explored—a little way—the Catacombs, yet was I never in a Ferris Wheel," echoed Ruth.
"I have 'swum in a gondola,' I have viewed the pyramids at Ghizeh, I have ridden cross-saddle in the Yosemite, yet was I never in a Ferris Wheel," declared Lucia.
"I have seen the Rock of Gibraltar, I have stood beneath the Eiffel tower, I have visited the Street Fair at Colbury, yet was I never in a Ferris Wheel," Ruth took up the antistrophe.