But Bridget was not convinced. She stood there gazing out seawards at
the lighthouse.

'I would like to go there,' she said. 'Can't you see a long way from the
top room that's all windows, Celestina? I should think you could see to
the--what do they call that thing at the top of the world--the north
stick, is it?'

[Illustration: 'I would like to go out there,' she said. P. 115.]

Celestina was not very much given to laughing, but this was too funny.

'The North Pole, you mean,' she said. 'Oh no, you couldn't see to
_there_, I'm quite sure. Besides, there isn't anything to see like
that--not a pole sticking up in the ground--it's just the name of a
place. Father's told me all about it. And so did the old man at the
lighthouse. Oh, I would like to go there--better than anywhere--just
think how strange it must be, all the snow and the ice mountains and
everything quite, _quite_ still!'




CHAPTER VIII

A NICE PLAN

'Up where the world grows cold,
Under the sharp north star.'