"I quite agree with you," said her husband. "I have always wanted to ride in a jaunting-car, but it is more fun to talk about it than to really do it."
"But what is a jaunting-car?" perhaps you are wondering.
It is a carriage in which the seats are placed back to back, facing sideways. It has no top, but has big wheels and big springs underneath.
A small jaunting-car, like the one which had passed the children, has two wheels, and seats long enough to hold four people, two on each side. The driver's place is built out in front, reaching over the horse's back. Such a car is very light, and one horse can carry it easily.
But what the lady said was true. There was no way for the passengers to hold on firmly. Besides this, they could see the view on only one side at a time.
A story has been told of a man who was travelling in Ireland and wished to see the country. He rode in a jaunting-car from Queenstown to Cork. He sat on the side of the car toward the hill and did not get a single view of the river. When he went back again he changed his seat to the opposite side of the car. And still he saw nothing but the hill. It is no wonder that, when people spoke to him about the river between Cork and Queenstown, he said, "There is no river. There is nothing to be seen except a hill."
Do you see the joke? And do you understand the reason why he saw only one side of the country, though he travelled twice over the same road?
Norah and her little sister had just turned to go home, when they noticed the sky had grown black with heavy clouds.
"It is going to rain, Katie. We must hurry, for I fear it will thunder and lighten," said Norah.