He lit a cigar, pushed back his chair, and replied blandly, "I am in your hands. I am ready to enjoy anyzing."
"Do you wish instruction or entertainment?"
"Mix zem, Bonker. Entertain by instrogtion; instrogt by entertaining."
"You are epigrammatic, Baron, but devilish vague. I presume, however, that you wish entertaining experience from which a man of your philosophical temperament can draw a moral--afterwards."
"Ha, ha!" laughed the Baron. "Excellent! You provide ze experiences--I draw ze moral."
"And we share the entertainment. The theory is perfect, but I'm afraid we need a programme. Now, on my own first visit to London I remember being taken--by the hand--to Madame Tussaud's Waxworks, the Tower, St Paul's Cathedral, the fishmarket at Billingsgate, the British Museum, and a number of other damnably edifying spectacles. You might naturally suppose that after such a round it would be quite superfluous for me ever to come up to town again. Yet, surprising as it may appear, most of the knowledge of London I hope to put at your disposal has been gained in the course of subsequent visits."
"Bot zese places--Tousaud, Tower, Paul's--are zey not instrogtif?"
"If you wish to learn that a great number of years ago a vast quantity of inconsequent events occurred, or that in an otherwise amusing enough world there are here and there collected so many roomfuls of cheerless articles, I can strongly recommend a visit to the Tower of London or the British Museum."
"In mine own gontry," said the Baron, thoughtfully, "I can lairn zo moch."
"Then, my dear Baron, while you are here forget it all."
"And yet," said the Baron, still thoughtfully, "somzing I should lairn here."
"Certainly; you will learn something of what goes on underneath a waistcoat and a little of the contents of a corset and petticoat. Also of the strange customs of this city and the excellence of British institutions."
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the Baron, who thought that if his friend had not actually made a jest, it was at least time for one to occur. "I see, I see. I draw ze moral, ha, ha!"
"This morning," Mr Bunker continued, reflectively, "we might--let me see--well, we might do a little shopping. To tell you the truth, Baron, my South African experiences have somewhat exhausted my wardrobe."