“Oui—yees, Monsieur.”
Tibbitts grasped his hand enthusiastically.
“It’s refreshing to meet one in a strange land who can speak one’s own language.”
“Yees, Monsieur.”
“Well, what I want to know is, is the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad cutting rates the same as the other roads, and do they cut for Western-bound passengers the same as for Eastern, and have you the remotest idea that the cutting will be kept up till September when I return, and does the Pullman Sleeping Car Company cut the same as the railroad companies?”
“Eh, Monsieur? Zeese watches—”
“You don’t quite understand me. You see the Pullman Sleeping Car Company is quite distinct from the railroad companies, and one may cut rates without the other. See? Now what I want to know is—”
The bewildered Frenchman who spoke English stared in a wild sort of way, but his politeness did not desert him.
“Ees eet ze watch, ze diamond, ze—”
“Not yet. What I want to know is, who is this Lapham and Miller who have been elected to fill the vacancies occasioned by the resignations of Platt and Conkling, and is Miller going to be a tail to Lapham’s kite, or are they both square, bang-up men, and—”