Of course he was conquered for that night, and could only have that solace which a most injurious reprieve could give him. "I will not harass you, if you are ill," he said. "I am ill. It was because I was afraid that I should be really ill that I went to Southend. The weather is hot, though of course the sun here is not as we have it. But the air is heavy,--what Mrs. Pipkin calls muggy. I was thinking if I were to go somewhere for a week, it would do me good. Where had I better go?" Paul suggested Brighton. "That is full of people; is it not?--a fashionable place?" "Not at this time of the year." "But it is a big place. I want some little place that would be pretty. You could take me down; could you not? Not very far, you know;--not that any place can be very far from here." Paul, in his John Bull displeasure, suggested Penzance, telling her, untruly, that it would take twenty-four hours. "Not Penzance then, which I know is your very Ultima Thule;--not Penzance, nor yet Orkney. Is there no other place,--except Southend?" "There is Cromer in Norfolk,--perhaps ten hours." "Is Cromer by the sea?" "Yes;--what we call the sea." "I mean really the sea, Paul?" "If you start from Cromer right away, a hundred miles would perhaps take you across to Holland. A ditch of that kind wouldn't do perhaps." "Ah,--now I see you are laughing at me. Is Cromer pretty?" "Well, yes;--I think it is. I was there once, but I don't remember much. There's Ramsgate." "Mrs. Pipkin told me of Ramsgate. I don't think I should like Ramsgate." "There's the Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight is very pretty." "That's the Queen's place. There would not be room for her and me too." "Or Lowestoft. Lowestoft is not so far as Cromer, and there is a railway all the distance." "And sea?" "Sea enough for anything. If you can't see across it, and if there are waves, and wind enough to knock you down, and shipwrecks every other day, I don't see why a hundred miles isn't as good as a thousand." "A hundred miles is just as good as a thousand. But, Paul, at Southend it isn't a hundred miles across to the other side of the river. You must admit that. But you will be a better guide than Mrs. Pipkin. You would not have taken me to Southend when I expressed a wish for the ocean;--would you? Let it be Lowestoft. Is there an hotel?" "A small little place." "Very small? uncomfortably small? But almost any place would do for me." "They make up, I believe, about a hundred beds; but in the States it would be very small."