“And why not entirely?” said I.
Belle made no reply.
“Shall I tell you?” I demanded. “You had no objection to the first part of the speech, but you did not like being called queen of the dingle. Well, if I had the power, I would make you queen of something better than the dingle—Queen of China. Come, let us have tea.”
“Something less would content me,” said Belle, sighing, as she rose to prepare our evening meal.
So we took tea together, Belle and I. “How delicious tea is after a hot summer’s day, and a long walk,” said she.
“I dare say it is most refreshing then,” said I; “but I have heard people say that they most enjoy it on a cold winter’s night, when the kettle is hissing on the fire, and their children playing on the hearth.”
Belle sighed. “Where does tea come from?” she presently demanded.
“From China,” said I; “I just now mentioned it, and the mention of it put me in mind of tea.”
“What kind of country is China?”
“I know very little about it; all I know is, that it is a very large country far to the East, but scarcely large enough to contain its inhabitants, who are so numerous, that though China does not cover one-ninth part of the world, its inhabitants amount to one-third of the population of the world.”