Now, do I get in ?"
The official looked puzzled for a minute. "You are not Irish, are
you, sir?" he said.
"No."
"Then I think you can come in all right." he answered.
The journey from Liverpool to London, like all other English
journeys, is short. This is due to the fact that England is a small
country: it contains only 50,000 square miles, whereas the United
States, as every one knows, contains three and a half billion. I
mentioned this fact to an English fellow passenger on the train,
together with a provisional estimate of the American corn crop for
1922: but he only drew his rug about his knees, took a sip of brandy
from his travelling flask, and sank into a state resembling death.
I contented myself with jotting down an impression of incivility
and paid no further attention to my fellow traveller other than to
read the labels on his lug gage and to peruse the headings of his
newspaper by peeping over his shoulder.
It was my first experience of travelling with a fellow passenger in a
compartment of an English train, and I admit now that I was as yet
ignorant of the proper method of conduct. Later on I became fully
conversant with the rule of travel as understood in England. I
should have known, of course, that I must on no account speak to the
man. But I should have let down the window a little bit in such a way
as to make a strong draught on his ear.
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