_Culchard_. So I am. That is, she is going over a metal-worker's
show-room close by, and I--er--preferred the open air. But didn't you
say you were going out with the--er--PRENDERGASTS again?

_Podb._ So I am. She's in the Church with BOB, so I said I'd come out
and keep an eye on the gondola. Nothing much to see in _there_, you
know!

_Culch._ (_with a weary irony_). Only the mausoleums of the
Doges--RUSKIN's "Street of the Tombs"--and a few trifles of that sort!

[Illustration: "I guess you're about the most unselfish Saint on two
legs!"]

_Podb._ That's all. And I'm feeling a bit done, you know. Been doing
the Correr Museum all the morning, and not lunched yet! So Miss
TROTTER's looking at ornamental metal-work? Rather fun that, eh?

_Culch._ For those who enjoy it. She has only been in there an hour,
so she is not likely to come back just yet. What do you say to coming
into S.S. Giovanni e Paolo again, with _me_? Those tombs form a really
remarkable illustration, as RUSKIN points out, of the gradual decay
of--

_Miss Trotter_ (_suddenly flutters up, followed by an attendant
carrying a studded halberd, an antique gondola-hook, and two copper
water-buckets--all of which are consigned to the disgusted CULCHARD_).
Just hold these a spell till I come back. Thanks ever so much....
Well, Mr. PODBURY! Aren't you going to admire my purchases? They're
real antique--or if they aren't, they'll wear all the better....