Were very fast friends, and to him I confided the wonder.
He said that was Echo. “Was Echo a wise kind of bee
That had learned how to laugh: could it laugh in one’s ear and then fly,
And laugh again yonder?” “No; Echo”—he whispered it low—
“Was a woman, they said, but a woman whom no one could see
And no one could find; and he did not believe it, not he,
But he could not get near for the river that held us asunder.
Yet I that had money—a shilling, a whole silver shilling—
We might cross if I thought I would spend it.” “Oh yes, I was willing”—
And we ran hand in hand, we ran down to the ferry, the ferry,