I've heard so much about him, and I do so want to make his
acquaintance.'

'Why, certainly,' said the good-natured Rat, jumping to his feet and
dismissing poetry from his mind for the day. 'Get the boat out, and
we'll paddle up there at once. It's never the wrong time to call on
Toad. Early or late he's always the same fellow. Always
good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when you go!'

'He must be a very nice animal,' observed the Mole, as he got into the
boat and took the sculls, while the Rat settled himself comfortably in
the stern.

'He is indeed the best of animals,' replied Rat. 'So simple, so
good-natured, and so affectionate. Perhaps he's not very clever--we
can't all be geniuses; and it may be that he is both boastful and
conceited. But he has got some great qualities, has Toady.'

Rounding a bend in the river, they came in sight of a handsome,
dignified old house of mellowed red brick, with well-kept lawns
reaching down to the water's edge.

'There's Toad Hall,' said the Rat; 'and that creek on the left, where
the notice-board says, "Private. No landing allowed," leads to his
boat-house, where we'll leave the boat. The stables are over there to
the right. That's the banqueting-hall you're looking at now--very
old, that is. Toad is rather rich, you know, and this is really one
of the nicest houses in these parts, though we never admit as much to
Toad.'