'I see,' I said, catching at it. 'The principle's as clear as mud, the moment you point it out to one. An English company will pay you well for the concession, and work for a smaller return on its investment than you Americans are content to receive on your capital!'
'That's so! You hit it in one, miss! Which will you take, a cigar or a cocoa-nut?'
I smiled. 'And what do you think you will call the machine in Europe?'
He gazed hard at me, and stroked his straw-coloured moustache. 'Well, what do you think of the Lois Cayley?'
'For Heaven's sake, no!' I cried, fervently. 'Mr. Hitchcock, I implore you!'
He smiled pity for my weakness. 'Ah, high-toned again?' he repeated, as if it were some natural malformation under which I laboured. 'Oh, ef you don't like it, miss, we'll say no more about it. I am a gentleman, I am. What's the matter with the Excelsior?'
'Nothing, except that it's very bad Latin,' I objected.
'That may be so; but it's very good business.'
He paused and mused, then he murmured low to himself, '"When through an Alpine village passed." That's where the idea of the Excelsior comes in; see? "It goes up Mont Blanc," you said yourself. "Through snow and ice, A cycle with the strange device, Excelsior!"'
'If I were you,' I said, 'I would stick to the name Manitou. It's original, and it's distinctive.'