Mark did not overhear any more discussions between his parents, and he was taken by surprise when one day a week after his mother had come to sleep in his room, she asked him how he should like to go and live in the country. To Mark the country was as remote as Paradise, and at first he was inclined to regard the question as rhetorical to which a conventional reply was expected. If anybody had asked him how he should like to go to Heaven, he would have answered that he should like to go to Heaven very much. Cows, sheep, saints, angels, they were all equally unreal outside a picture book.
"I would like to go to the country very much," he said. "And I would like to go to the Zoological Gardens very much. Perhaps we can go there soon, can we, mother?"
"We can't go there if we're in the country."
Mark stared at her.
"But really go in the country?"
"Yes, darling, really go."
"Oh, mother," and immediately he checked his enthusiasm with a sceptical "when?"
"Next Monday."
"And shall I see cows?"
"Yes."