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THE GOLDEN AGE bluntly. Miss Smedley deprecated the use of any such unladylike words in any connexion at all. 'These stories had their origin, my dear,' she explained, 'in a mistaken anthropomorphism in the interpretation of nature. But though we are now too well informed to fall into similar errors, there are still many beautiful lessons to be learned from these myths——'

'But how can you learn anything,' persisted Charlotte, 'from what doesn't exist?' And she left the table defiant, howbeit depressed.

'Don't you mind her,' I said consolingly; 'how can she know anything about it? Why, she can't even throw a stone properly!'

'Edward says they're all rot, too,' replied Charlotte doubtfully.

'Edward says everything's rot,' I explained, 'now he thinks he's going into the Army. If a thing's in a book it must be true, so that settles it!'

Charlotte looked almost reassured. The room was quieter now, for Edward had got the dragon down and was boring holes in him with a purring sound; Harold was ascending the steps of the 124