They were on a journey; Lucy and Royal were travelling with their father and mother.
One evening, after they had reached the end of the journey for the day, the party stopped in a village, built upon an eminence, which overlooked a broad and very fertile-looking valley. It consisted of extensive intervals, level and green, and spotted with elms, and with a river winding through them, until its course was lost among the trees, a few miles below. After tea, Royal wanted to go down, across the intervals, to the bank of the river, to see the water.
“O yes,” said Lucy, “and let me go too, father.”
“O no,” said Royal, “you must not go.”
“Why not?” said Lucy.
“Because,” said Royal, “we may find a boat there, and want to take a sail in it; and you couldn’t go.”
“Why not?” said Lucy.
“Because,” said Royal, “you wouldn’t dare to go.”
“Yes I should,” said Lucy.
“No,” said Royal, “you don’t dare to sleep in a room alone at night, in a hotel.”