I threw the money upon the table and bolted out of the shop with Adèle at my heels….
As we came to the corner, I ran full tilt into—Eulalie. For an instant our eyes met, but she looked away pointedly, slipped to one side, and passed on….
Then—
"Obstàculos to you, sir!" roared Berry. "Look at my wing…. Yes, I see the cabriolet. But what of that? It's perfectly happy…. No, it didn't want to get by. And if it had—— Oh, go and push yourself off somewhere." Here he caught sight of me. "See what this greasy pantaloon's done? I told him he hadn't room, but he wouldn't wait. And now he's shoving it on to that cabriolet…. Oh, why can't I speak Spanish? I'd give him earache."
I thrust our packages into the fold of the hood and ran to examine the wing. Happily the damage was slight. I announced this relievedly.
"I daresay it is," raged Berry, as we resumed our seats. "What I object to is the poisonous hostility of the brute. He blinkin' well meant to do it."
"Dear, dear," said Adèle, bubbling. "There must have been some misunderstanding. The Spaniard's courtesy is proverbial."
"Exactly," said I. "The stranger is at first apt to be carried away by the exaggerated politeness of the——"
"You may be," said Berry, "as blasphemous as you like, but, for the love of the home for little children, let's get out of this town."
I let in the clutch….