"
"Oh, it would not have mattered," confidently.
"Prussia was once humbled by a Frenchman." I was irritating him with a
purpose in view.
"Bah!"
"The only reason the French were beaten was because they did not think
the German race worth troubling about."
He laughed pleasantly. "You Americans have a strange idea of the
difference between the German and the Frenchman."
This was just what I wanted.
"And who informed you that I was an American?"
He was disconcerted.
"Why," he said, lamely, "it is easily apparent, the difference between
the American and the Englishman." Then, as though a bright idea had
come to him, "The English never engage in conversation with strangers
while traveling. Americans are more sociable."
"They are? Then I advise them to follow the example set by the
Englishman: Never try to get up a conversation while traveling with a
German. It is a disagreeable task;" and I settled back behind my paper.
How had he found out that I was an American? Was I known? And for
what reason was I known? To my knowledge I had never committed any
offence to the extent that I must be watched like a suspect.
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