German was the language being loudly talked
across the car, from one seat to another; and a German mandate had
caused all the windows and ventilators to be shut, in fear of that fatal
thing, "a draught." English people sitting stiffly in corners, boiling
with the desire to protest yet too reserved and proud to "risk a row,"
raged internally with the belief that their German neighbours were
coarse, food-loving, pushing, selfish creatures who cared nothing for
the beauty of the Riviera, and came only because of the cheap round
trip, and the hope of winning a few five-franc pieces. The real truth
was very different. The "pushing creatures" were selfish only because
they were not self-conscious. They were as perfectly happy as children.
They raved loudly in ecstasy over the beauty of everything, and were
blissfully ignorant that it was possible for any one to despise or hate
them. Frankly they admired Vanno and Mary, staring in the unblinking,
unashamed, beaming way that children have of regarding what interests
them; and their kind, unsnobbish hearts went out to the young couple as
no English hearts in the car went out.
Two persons sitting together at the other end, but on the same side as
the newcomers, could not see what the pair were like, without bending
forward and stretching out their necks. One of these, fired by the
intense interest displayed on German faces, could not resist the
temptation to be curious. She peered round the corner of a large,
well-filled overcoat from Berlin, and saw Mary and Vanno smiling at each
other, as oblivious of all observers as though they had the tram to
themselves.
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