‘I haf read one, two, Angleesh books.’
‘Did you ever read—er—The Lightning Conductor, for example?’
‘No, signorina; I haf never read heem.’
‘I think it would interest you. It’s about a man who pretends he’s a chauffeur in order to—to—— There are any number of books with the same motive; She Stoops to Conquer, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Lalla Rookh, Monsieur Beaucaire—Oh, dozens of them! It’s an old plot; it doesn’t require the slightest originality to think of it.’
‘Si, signorina? Sank you.’ Tony’s tone was exactly like Gustavo’s when he has failed to get the point, but feels that a comment is necessary.
Constance laughed and allowed a silence to follow, while Tony redirected his attention to Fidilini’s movements. His ‘Yip! Yip!’ was an exact imitation, though in a deeper guttural, of Beppo’s cries before them. It would have taken a close observer to suspect that he had not been bred to the calling.
‘You have not always been a donkey-driver?’ she inquired after an interval of amused scrutiny.
‘Not always, signorina.’
‘What did you do in New York?’
‘I play hand-organ, signorina.’