"I didn't notice anything stiff about his walk yesterday, Fred, He took the fence into your nasty neighbour's garden at one bound, and came back with another."
"I don't know what can make him go there!" cried Fred; "I wish he understood about keeping to his own grounds."
"Ponto never lived in Constantinople, that is evident," said Cousin Peregrine.
"Did you ever live in Constantinople, Cousin?" asked Maggie.
"Yes, Maggie, I am happy to say I have."
"Why are you glad, Cousin?"
"Because in some respects it is the loveliest city on earth, and I am glad to have seen it."
"Tell us what it is like."
"And tell us why you say Ponto never lived there."
"I was a good deal younger than I am now," said Cousin Peregrine, "when I saw Constantinople for the first time, and had seen much less of the world than I have seen since; but even now I remember nothing in my travels with greater delight than my first sight of that lovely city. It was from the sea. Do you know anything about the Sea of Marmora, Fred?"