Part 23 (1/2)
”No! is that so? I never see you in the reception-room. I go to the reception-room a good deal of the time, because there's so many Americans there. I make lots of acquaintances. I know an American as soon as I see him--and so I speak to him and make his acquaintance. I like to be always making acquaintances--don't you?”
”Lord, yes!”
”You see it breaks up a trip like this, first rate. I never got bored on a trip like this, if I can make acquaintances and have somebody to talk to. But I think a trip like this would be an awful bore, if a body couldn't find anybody to get acquainted with and talk to on a trip like this. I'm fond of talking, ain't you?
”Pa.s.sionately.”
”Have you felt bored, on this trip?”
”Not all the time, part of it.”
”That's it!--you see you ought to go around and get acquainted, and talk. That's my way. That's the way I always do--I just go 'round, 'round, 'round and talk, talk, talk--I never get bored. You been up the Rigi yet?”
”No.”
”Going?”
”I think so.”
”What hotel you going to stop at?”
”I don't know. Is there more than one?”
”Three. You stop at the Schreiber--you'll find it full of Americans.
What s.h.i.+p did you say you came over in?”
”_City of Antwerp_.”
”German, I guess. You going to Geneva?”
”Yes.”
”What hotel you going to stop at?”
”Hotel de l'Ecu de Geneve.”
”Don't you do it! No Americans there! You stop at one of those big hotels over the bridge--they're packed full of Americans.”
”But I want to practice my Arabic.”
”Good gracious, do you speak Arabic?”
”Yes--well enough to get along.”
”Why, hang it, you won't get along in Geneva--_they_ don't speak Arabic, they speak French. What hotel are you stopping at here?”
”Hotel Pension-Beaurivage.”
”Sho, you ought to stop at the Schweitzerhof. Didn't you know the Schweitzerhof was the best hotel in Switzerland?--look at your Baedeker.”