_Podb._ Don't see that either. Not going to let that beast, VAN
BOODELER have it _all_ his own way!

_Culch._ Surely you know he decided suddenly to stay at Vicenza?
He said so at breakfast. But I will _not_ have your friend BOB
perpetually--

_Podb._ At breakfast? Oh, I came down late. Vicenza, eh? Then _he_'s
out of it! Hooray! But as for BOB, _he_'s all right too. Oh, I forgot
you cut _déjeuner_. HYPATIA had another squabble with Miss TROTTER,
and poor old BOB got dragged into it as usual, and now they ain't on
speaking terms.

_Culch._ (_overjoyed_). You don't say so! Then all _I_ can say,
PODBURY, is that if we two can't manage, in a place like this, to
recover all the ground we have lost--

_Podb._ More water than ground in a place like this, eh? But _I_ know
what you mean--we _must_ be duffers if we don't leave Venice engaged
men--which we're not as yet, worse luck!

_Culch._ No--but we _shall_ be, if we only insist upon being treated
seriously.

_Podb._ She treats me a devilish deal _too_ seriously, my boy. But
there, never mind--things will go better now!

SCENE--_A double-bedded room in the Grand Hotel, Dandolo,
which PODBURY and CULCHARD have to share for the night._