Page:1880. A Tramp Abroad.djvu/297

 "Yes,—sometimes."

"Well, it does me, too. As long as I'm talking I never feel bored,—ain't that the way with you?"

"Yes—generally. But there are exceptions to the rule."

"O, of course, I don't care to talk to everybody, myself. If a person starts in to jabber-jabber-jabber about scenery, and history, and pictures, and all sorts of tiresome things, I get the fan-tods mighty soon. I say 'Well, I must be going now,—hope I'll see you again'—and then I take a walk. Where you from?"

"New Jersey."

"Why, bother it all, I asked you that before, too. Have you seen the Lion of Lucerne?"

"Not yet."

"Nor I, either. But the man who told me about Mount Pilatus says it's one of the things to see. It's twenty-eight feet long. It don't seem reasonable, but he said so, anyway. He saw it yesterday; said it was dying, then, so I reckon it's dead by this time. But that ain't any matter, of course they'll stuff it. Did you say the children are yours,—or hers?"

"Mine."

"O, so you did. Are you going up the...... no, I asked you that. What ship...... no, I asked you that, too. What hotel are you...... no, you told me that. Let me see...... um O, what kind of a voy........ no, we've been over that ground, too. Um...... um...... well, I believe that is all. Bonjour—I am very glad to have made your acquaintance, ladies. Guten Tag."