"Six times is customary, sir, or even a dozen; you are very miserly with your words. Does it cost anything to speak? I could not leave the post-master while he was telling me what happened to the diligence yesterday; for you did not know, gentlemen, that the one that preceded this was drowned."
"Drowned!" repeated every one.
"Very good," interrupted the conductor; "but get in."
"Anything but good," responded Pierre Lepré; "everybody is frightened enough."
"I beg of you to get up immediately."
"And what will our families think when they learn this disaster?"
"Be quick, then."
"Again, there was I trying to obtain these details, when they came to tell me you had gone on without me."
"And we are going to do the same thing again," said the impatient conductor.
"Bless me," cried Lepré, who hastened to get up. "I have had enough of wagons; here I am, conductor, lift me up."