Two Dai/s With the Qiiorn {First Day) 153 



like, sir? A cup of tea in the smoking room, or would you 

 prefer something to eat? Diinier will not be served until half- 

 past six." 



"I'll take a cup of tea, please." 



"Thank you. Will you have it served in the smoking room 

 or in the dining room?" 



"Oh, the smoking room." 



"Smoking room, right, sir," and with a matronly air she 

 says: "You know the way, don't j^ou, sir? This way. Your 

 tea will be there in a minute." 



In the barroom were some half dozen grooms and stable- 

 men sipping their bitter and talking horse, wliile one of the 

 number was leaning on the bar laughing with the barmaid 

 and trying to say something to make her blush. "I wouldn't 

 go to master wth a feed bill," one groom was saying to 

 another, "until the frost lifts, for— for— well, I'd sooner lose 

 three weeks' wages, so I would." And he brought his fist 

 down on the table with a bang to prove that he meant it. 



A dozen or fifteen gentlemen were seated about the smok- 

 ing room. All were looking serious and very matter of fact, 

 each making the others more miserable, no doubt, by talking 

 about the weather and the capital D frost. It was a sort of 

 an "inferno" place: it must have been, for it was warmer than 

 could be accounted for by the little grate fire. As I entered 

 the room, most of the gentlemen looked uj) from their books 

 and papers and glasses, and as I walked to the fireplace, I 

 said to a group of gentlemen who made way for me, "Good 

 evening, gentlemen." No one answered : and then, not realis- 

 ing the state of their minds about the weather. I said. "A cold, 

 disagreeable day, gentlemen." No reply and I felt more cliilly 

 than ever. 



This was my first visit to England and I did not know 

 Englislmien then or how to get at them. When an American 

 first goes to England he compares them to a turtle that lives 



