Say that again, you young rascal."
At this moment we heard once more the herald's "O yes! O yes!"
outside in the street proclaiming the REsolution of the Council.
Young though he was, my Grandson--who was unusually intelligent
for his age, and bred up in perfect reverence for the authority
of the Circles--took in the situation with an acuteness for which
I was quite unprepared. He remained silent till the last words
of the Proclamation had died away, and then, bursting into tears,
"Dear Grandpapa," he said, "that was only my fun, and of course I meant
nothing at all by it; and we did not know anything then about the new Law;
and I don't think I said anything about the Third Dimension; and I am sure
I did not say one word about `Upward, not Northward,' for that would be
such nonsense, you know. How could a thing move Upward, and not Northward?
Upward and not Northward! Even if I were a baby, I could not be so absurd
as that. How silly it is! Ha! ha! ha!"
"Not at all silly," said I, losing my temper; "here for example,
I take this Square," and, at the word, I grasped a moveable Square,
which was lying at hand--"and I move it, you see, not Northward but
--yes, I move it Upward--that is to say, Northward but I move it
somewhere--not exactly like this, but somehow --" Here I brought
my sentence to an inane conclusion, shaking the Square about in
a purposeless manner, much to the amusement of my Grandson, who burst
out laughing louder than ever, and declared that I was not teaching
him, but joking with him; and so saying he unlocked the door and ran
out of the room.
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