"'I am quite willing; but where do you want to go to? Where shall I take you to?'
"She shrugged her shoulders with an air of supreme indifference.
"'Wherever you like; what does it matter to me?' She repeated her 'Che mi fa?' twice.
"'But we are going to the hotel.'
"'Very well, let us all go to the hotel,' she said, in a contemptuous voice.
"I turned to Paul, and said:
"'She wants to know if we should like her to come with us.'
"My friend's utter surprise restored my self-possession. He stammered:
"'With us? Where to? What for? How?'
"'I don't know, but she made this strange proposal to me in a most irritable voice. I told her that we were going to the hotel, and she said: 'Very well, let us all go there!' I suppose she is without a half-penny. She certainly has a very strange way of making acquaintances.'