"Everything just dances off your pencil," said Polly, wishing she could
draw, and wondering if it was any use for her to try to learn.
And every afternoon they would go to drive as usual, very often around
the docks, which gave them all a good idea of this wonderful port. They
were never tired of watching the hydraulic cranes, of inspecting the
dry docks; the intertwining railways by which all the docks, large and
small, are connected, and the two basins, Le Petit and Le Grand Bassin.
"Dear me!" exclaimed Jasper, on one of these occasions, "I thought
Amsterdam docks were huge affairs, but Antwerp!" And he left his
sentence in mid-air, which was more impressive after all.
But Parson Henderson liked the church of St. Jacques best of all things
in Antwerp, and he used to steal away mornings to go there again and
again. And he asked Polly and Jasper to go there with him one day, and
Polly begged to have Adela go too, and they all came home as
enthusiastic as he was.
And then suddenly Mr. King would wrench them all off from this
delightful study and put his foot down peremptorily. "No more
cathedrals for a time," he would declare; "my old head cannot carry any
more just yet." And he would propose a little in-letting of fun. And
then off they would go a-shopping, or to the Zoological Gardens; and
they always had concerts, of course, wherever they were, for Polly and
Jasper's sakes, if for no other reason.
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