"About fourteen or fifteen miles. I have never walked it myself, you understand, so the estimate is a rough one."
I felt that this was not an occasion on which it was necessary to be over-particular as to a yard or so.
"So much as that? I had no idea it was so far. Of course, walking is out of the question. How would a van do?"
"A what?"
"A van. One of those vans in which, I understand, children go for treats. How much would they charge, now, for one which would hold the whole of us?"
"I haven't the faintest notion, aunt. Would you propose to go in a van to all these places?" I motioned towards the sheet of paper. She nodded. "I have never, you understand, done this sort of thing in a van, but I imagine that the kind of vehicle you suggest, with one pair of horses, to do the entire round would take about three weeks."
"Three weeks? Thomas!"
"I don't pretend to literal accuracy, but I don't believe that I'm far wrong. No means of locomotion with which I am acquainted will enable you to do it in a day, of that I'm certain. I've been in London since my childhood, but I've never yet had time to see one-half the things you've got down upon this sheet of paper."
"Is it possible?"
"It's not only possible, it's fact. You country folk have no notion of London's vastness."