‘Hadn’t we better go on to Edinburgh, Aunt Celia?’ I asked, as we were resting in the door of the Jolly Sailor.
‘Edinburgh? Never!’ she replied. ‘Do you suppose that I would voluntarily spend a Sunday in those bare Presbyterian churches until the memory of these past ideal weeks has faded a little from my memory? What! leave out Durham and spoil the set?’ (In her agitation and disappointment she spoke of the cathedrals as if they were souvenir spoons.) ‘I intended to stay here for a week or more, [p80] and write up a record of our entire trip from Winchester while the impressions were fresh in my mind.’
‘And I had intended doing the same thing,’ said Mr. Copley. ‘That is, I hoped to finish off my previous sketches, which are in a frightful state of incompletion, and spend a good deal of time on the interior of this cathedral, which is unusually beautiful.’
At this juncture Aunt Celia disappeared for a moment to ask the barmaid if, in her opinion, the constant consumption of malt liquors prevents a more dangerous indulgence in brandy and whisky. She is gathering statistics, but as the barmaids can never collect their thoughts while they are drawing ale, Aunt Celia proceeds slowly.
‘For my part,’ said I, with mock humility, ‘I am a docile person, who never has any intentions of her own, but who [p81] yields herself sweetly to the intentions of other people in her immediate vicinity.’
‘Are you?’ asked Mr. Copley, taking out his pencil.
‘Yes, I said so. What are you doing?’
‘Merely taking note of your statement, that’s all. Now, Miss Van Tyck’ (of course Aunt Celia appeared at this delightful moment), ‘I have a plan to propose. I was here last summer with a couple of Harvard men, and we lodged at a farmhouse about a mile distant from the cathedral. If you will step into the coffee-room for an hour, I’ll walk up to Farmer Hendry’s and see if they will take us in. I think we might be fairly comfortable.’
‘Can Aunt Celia have Apollinaris and black coffee after her morning bath?’ I asked.
‘I hope, Katharine,’ said Aunt Celia majestically—‘I hope that I can accommodate myself to circumstances. If [p82] Mr. Copley can secure apartments for us, I shall be more than grateful.’