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