~e
The river， when they came to it， was bigger than they ex-
pected and much less beautiful It was big only by the stan-
dards of m/nor English rivers we//inland from the coast-
they were not expecting the Mississippi， or even the Severn
-but it was st///unexpectedly big. It was a smooth， unbro-
ken body of brown water moving steadily through the flat
green country， and l~unning in so slight a curve that it
looked almost artificia~ straight， as ff it were a canal. It
must have been all of twenty-five yards across from bank to
bank， and the banks were steep. They could not tell how
deep the water was， but it looked deep.
There were no frills at all， no islands or backwaters， no
lilies or bu/lrushes-not even， as far as they could see， any
trees growing on the bank. The fact of the river was there in
front of them， but all the pleasant associations their minds
had conjured up were missing. They stood for a moment
looking at it in silence， and then the whole smooth surface
was suddenly pock-marked with spreading rings， and it
began to rain. They still stood there， turning up their coat-
collars and trying to find words to say to each other， but no
words came， and the rain went on， falling straight out of the
grey sky onto the brown， dimpled water. It was difl~enlt
enough to know what to say without having the rain begin-
ning to soak into their clothes and run down their necks，
and presently they gave it up and turned and went back to
the car.
They shook off what water they could and got into their
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