possibly in that case it might be less correct."

"I will, if you will give me a pencil and a sheet of paper."

Christopher produced a pencil, and tore a half-sheet off a note that he
had in his pocket. The two were walking through the wood at the Willows
at that moment, and Elisabeth straightway sat down upon a felled tree
that happened to be lying there, and began to draw.

The young man watched her with amusement. "An extensive outline," he
remarked; "this is gratifying."

"Oh yes! you have plenty of mind, such as it is; nobody could deny
that."

"But why is the coast-line all irregular, with such a lot of bays and
capes and headlands?"

"To show that you are an undecided person, and given to split hairs, and
don't always know your own opinion. First you think you'll do a thing
because it is nice; and then you think you won't do it because it is
wrong; and in the end you drop between two stools, like Mahomet's
coffin."

"I see. And please what are the mountain-ranges that you are drawing
now?"

"These," replied Elisabeth, covering her map with herring-bones, "are
your scruples. Like all other mountain-ranges they hinder commerce, make
pleasure difficult, and render life generally rather uphill work."
"Don't I sound exactly as if I was taking a geography class?"

"Or conducting an Inquisition," added Christopher.

"I thought an Inquisition was a Spanish thing that hurt."

"So certain ignorant people say; but it was originally invented, I
believe, to eradicate error and to maintain truth."

"I am going on with my geography class, so don't interrupt. The rivers
in this map, which are marked by a few faint lines, are narrow and
shallow; they are only found near the coast, and never cross the
interior of the country at all. These represent your feelings."

"Very ingenious of you! And what is that enormous blotch right in the
middle of the country, which looks like London and its environs?"

"That is your conscience; its outlying suburbs cover nearly the whole
country, you will perceive. You will also notice that there are no
seaports on the coast of my map; that shows that you are self-contained,
and that you neither send exports to, nor receive imports from, the
hearts and minds of other people."

"What ever are those queer little castellated things round the coast
that you are drawing now?"

"Those are floating icebergs, to show that it is a cold country. There,
my map is finished," concluded Elisabe