“Pardon me,” I said to my companion, “but I am new to this country. What city is this?”
“London,” said he.
London, the far-famed! So this was London. Much need to “paint it red,” as the English say of a frolic.
“Is it all like this?” I asked.
“Not quite,” he replied, in his good-humored tone.
“Thank God!” I exclaimed, devoutly. “I do not like to speak disrespectfully of any British institution, but this—my faith!”
We crossed the Thames, gray and gleaming in the sunshine, and now I am at Charing Cross. Just as the train was slowing down I turned to my fellow-traveller.
“Have you been vaccinated?” I asked.
“I have,” said he, in surprise.
You see even reticence has its limits.