Podb. (with intense disgust). How on earth are we going to get that beggar out? Set the Conductor at him, Culchard, do—you can talk the lingo best!
Culch. (who has had enough of Podbury for the present). Talk to him yourself, my dear fellow, I'm not going to make a row. [He gets in.
Podb. (to Conductor). Hi! sprechen sie Französisch, oder was? il-y-a quelque chose dans mon siège, dites-lui de—what the deuce is the French for "clear out"?
Cond. Montez, Monsieur, nous bartons, montez vîte alors!
[He thrusts Podbury, protesting vainly, into the intérieur, with two peasants, a priest, and the elderly Englishwoman. The diligence starts again.
CHAPTER XIII.
On revient Toujours!
Scene—A hundred yards or so from the top of Monte Generoso, above Lake Lugano. Culchard, who, with a crowd of other excursionists, has made the ascent by rail, is toiling up the steep and very slippery slope to the summit.
Culch. (to himself, as he stops to pant). More climbing! I thought this line was supposed to go to the top! But that's Italian all over—hem—as Podbury would say! Wonder, by the way, if he expected to be asked to come with me. I've no reason for sacrificing myself like that any longer! (He sighs.) Ah, Hypatia, if you could know what a dreary disenchanted blank you have made of my life! And I who believed you capable of appreciating such devotion as mine!