“They say, though, things have changed. England’s not what it was,” he said.
“No. But it has changed for the better.”
“I don’t believe it!”
“Quite true. The last time I was there it had improved so much that I thought of stopping. Merry England is foutu! There won’t be a regular Pub. in the whole country in fifty years. Art will flourish! There’s not a real gipsy left in the country. The sham art-ones are dwindling!”
“Are the Zigeuner disappearing?”
“Je vous crois! Rather!”
“The only Englishmen I know are very sympathisch.”
They pottered about on the subject of England for some time. Kreisler was very tickled with the idea of England.
“English women—what are they like?” Kreisler then asked with a grin. Their relations made this subject delightfully delicate and yet, Kreisler thought, very natural. This Englishman was evidently a description of pander, and no doubt he would be as inclined to be hospitable with his countrywomen in the abstract as with his late fiancée in material detail.