"How, sir?" proudly.

"You stare me out of countenance, you refrain from entering into
conversation, and by the way you follow me in and out of the carriage,
one would say that you were watching me. All this is not common
politeness."

"Herr jests," he replied with a forced smile. "If I desire not to
converse, that is my business. As for getting in and out of the
carriage, have I no rights as a passenger?"

It was I who subsided. A minute passed.

"But why do you stare at me?" I asked.

"I do not stare at you, I have no paper and tried to read yours at a
distance. I am willing to apologize for that."

"Oh, that is different," I said. I tossed the paper to him. "You are
welcome to the paper."

I covertly watched him as he tried to read the French. By and by he
passed the paper back.

"I am not a very good French scholar, and the French are tiresome."

"They would not have been if they had had a General who thought more of
fighting than of wearing pretty clothes."

"Oh, it would not have mattered," confidently.