‘It MUST be a dream,’ she said.
‘That’s what the clergyman said,’ remarked Robert forlornly; ‘but it wasn’t, and it isn’t.’
‘But the Lamb never wished,’ said Cyril; ‘he was only talking Bosh.’
‘The carpet understands all speech,’ said the Phoenix, ‘even Bosh. I know not this Boshland, but be assured that its tongue is not unknown to the carpet.’
‘Do you mean, then,’ said Anthea, in white terror, ‘that when he was saying “Agglety dag,” or whatever it was, that he meant something by it?’
‘All speech has meaning,’ said the Phoenix.
‘There I think you’re wrong,’ said Cyril; ‘even people who talk English sometimes say things that don’t mean anything in particular.’
‘Oh, never mind that now,’ moaned Anthea; ‘you think “Aggety dag” meant something to him and the carpet?’
‘Beyond doubt it held the same meaning to the carpet as to the luckless infant,’ the Phoenix said calmly.
‘And WHAT did it mean? Oh WHAT?’