"Well," said Rollo, "I should like to be where I can see. But would you rather it would be in the coupé, or in the banquette?"
"That is just as you please," replied Mr. George. "There are some advantages in being in the banquette."
"What are they?" asked Rollo.
"There are four advantages," replied Mr. George. "First, it is up very high, and is all open, so that you have a most excellent chance to see."
"Yes," said Rollo. "I shall like that."
"The second advantage," said Mr. George, "is, that it costs less. The places in the banquette are quite cheap."
"Yes," said Rollo. "I like that. So we can save some of our money."
"The third advantage," continued Mr. George, "is, that we have a great deal better opportunity to hear talking there. There are usually five persons in that part of the coach—the coachman, the conductor, and three passengers. That is, there will be one passenger besides you and me. He will probably be talking with the conductor part of the time, and the conductor will be talking with the coachman, and we shall be amused by hearing what they say."
"But there are six persons in the interior," said Rollo, "to talk."
"True," replied Mr. George; "but, then, they are usually not so sociable there as they are up on the banquette. Besides, the noise of the wheels on the hard gravel roads is so loud there that we cannot hear very well. Then, moreover, when we stop to change horses, the hostlers and postilions come out, and our coachman and conductor often have a great deal of amusing conversation with them, which we can hear from the banquette; but we could not hear it, or see the process of harnessing and unharnessing, from the interior, nor even very well from the coupé."