"Nearly everyone I've spoken to seems to have made the trip half a dozen times," said Heriot. "I feel dreadfully untravelled in the smoking-room. When are you going to Niagara? Niagara is one of the things I'm determined not to miss." "I was talking to some girls who have lived in New York all their lives--when they weren't in Europe--and they haven't been there yet. They told me they had been to the panorama in Westminster!" "I have met a Londoner who had never been to the Temple." "No? How perfectly appalling!" she exclaimed, none the less fervently because she hadn't been to it herself. "Oh yes, I know I shall adore Niagara! I want to see a great deal of America while I'm there." "I wish _I_ had time to see more; I should like to go to California." "I wouldn't see California for any consideration upon earth!" she declared. "California, to me, is Bret Harte--I should be so afraid of being disillusioned. When we went to Ireland once, do you know, Sir George, it was a most painful shock to me! My ideas of Ireland were founded on Dion Boucicault's plays--I expected to see all the peasants in fascinating costumes, with their hair down their backs, just as one sees them on the stage. The reality was terrible. I shudder when I recall the disappointment." "I sympathise." "Of course you're laughing at me! I shall have my revenge, if you don't like New York. But, I don't know--I may feel guilty. You mustn't blame us if you don't like New York, Sir George. Fortunately you won't have time to be very bored, though; will you?" "'Fortunately'?" "Fortunately if it doesn't amuse you, I mean. When does the--how do you say it? When does your holiday end?" "I must be back in London on the twenty-fourth of next month; I'm almost American myself. I shall have such a fleeting glimpse of the country, that I must really think of writing a book about it." "You have something better to do than write vapid books. To me your profession seems the most fascinating one there is. If I were a man, I'd rather be called to the Bar than anything. You'd be astonished if you knew how many biographies of eminent lawyers I've read--they enthralled me as a child. I don't know any career that suggests such power to me as the Bar. Don't smile: sometimes, when we're talking and I remember the tremendous influence you wield, I tremble."