L. That's very hard, Florrie; why mustn't I, if you may? FLORRIE. Oh, I may, because I'm little, but you mustn't, because you're--(hesitates for a delicate expression of magnitude). L. (rudely taking the first that comes). Because I'm big? No; that's not the way of it at all, Florrie. Because you're little, you should have very little play; and because I'm big I should have a great deal. ISABEL and FLORRIE (both). No--no--no--no. That isn't it at all. (ISABEL sola, quoting Miss Ingelow.) "The lambs play always--they know no better." (Putting her head very much on one side.) Ah, now --please--please--tell us true; we want to know. L. But why do you want me to tell you true, any more than the man who wrote the "Arabian Nights"? ISABEL. Because--because we like to know about real things; and you can tell us, and we can't ask the man who wrote the stories. L. What do you call real things? ISABEL. Now, you know! Things that really are. L. Whether you can see them or not? ISABEL. Yes, if somebody else saw them. L. But if nobody has ever seen them? ISABEL. (evading the point). Well, but, you know, if there were a real Valley of Diamonds, somebody MUST have seen it. L. You cannot be so sure of that, Isabel. Many people go to real places, and never see them; and many people pass through this valley, and never see it. FLORRIE. What stupid people they must be! L. No, Florrie. They are much wiser than the people who do see it. MAY. I think I know where it is. ISABEL. Tell us more about it, and then we'll guess. L. Well. There's a great broad road, by a river-side, leading up into it. MAY (gravely cunning, with emphasis on the last word). Does the road really go UP? L. You think it should go down into a valley? No, it goes up; this is a valley among the hills, and it is as high as the clouds, and is often full of them; so that even the people who most want to see it, cannot, always. ISABEL. And what is the river beside the road like? L. It ought to be very beautiful, because it flows over diamond sand--only the water is thick and red. ISABEL. Red water? L. It isn't all water. MAY. Oh, please never mind that, Isabel, just now; I want to hear about the valley. L. So the entrance to it is very wide, under a steep rock; only such numbers of people are always trying to get in, that they keep jostling each other, and manage it but slowly. Some weak ones are pushed back, and never get in at all; and make great moaning as they go away: but perhaps they are none the worse in the end. MAY. And when one gets in, what is it like?