"I think the place is Panama."
"Going to work on the canal?"
"What canal? Oh, of course! Now I remember hearing something about a
Panama Canal. Is that where it is?"
"That's the place," Stein replied, dryly.
"I'm not going to work. I don't work—don't know how."
"I see. Pleasure trip?"
"Purely a pleasure trip. I'm having a great time. By-the-way, this canal affair is something new, isn't it?"
"It was begun about thirty years ago." Mr. Stein regarded the speaker with puzzled inquiry, as if undecided in what spirit to take him.
"What's the idea? Why don't they finish it up?"
"I thought you were an American," returned the other, politely. "You have no accent."