“I suppose it is,” said Meats, as if struck by a new thought. “Everything has its compensations, as they say.”
“Frightfully dull,” Michael vowed. “Why, here am I still at school! You know I wouldn’t half mind going down underneath, as you call it, for a while. I believe I’d like it.”
“If you knew you could get up again all right,” commented Meats.
“Oh, of course,” Michael answered. “I don’t suppose Æneas would have cared much about going down to hell, if he hadn’t been sure he could come up again quite safely.”
“Well, I don’t know your friend with the Jewish name,” said Meats. “But I’ll lay he didn’t come out much wiser than he went in if he knew he could get out all right by pressing a button and taking the first lift up.”
“Oh, well, I was only speaking figuratively,” Michael explained.
“So was I. The same here, and many of them, old chap,” retorted Meats enigmatically.
“Ah, you don’t think I’m in earnest. You think I’m fooling,” Michael complained.
“Oh, yes, I think you’d like to take a peep without letting go of Nurse’s apron,” sneered Meats.
“Well, perhaps one day you’ll see me underneath,” Michael almost threatened.