That is why, if you expect any incidents, to enliven you--" "Certainly, Monsieur Ephrinell." "Illusions, Mr.Bombarnac! Nothing will happen either to you or me.
Wait a bit, I promise you a journey, the most prosaic, the most homely, the flattest--flat as the steppes of Kara Koum, which the Grand Transasiatic traverses in Turkestan, and the plains of the desert of Gobi it crosses in China--" "Well, we shall see, for I travel for the pleasure of my readers." "And I travel merely for my own business." And at this reply the idea recurred to me that Ephrinell would not be quite the traveling companion I had dreamed of.

He had goods to sell, I had none to buy.

I foresaw that our meeting would not lead to a sufficient intimacy during our long journey.

He was one of those Yankees who, as they say, hold a dollar between their teeth, which it is impossible to get away from them, and I should get nothing out of him that was worth having.
And although I knew that he traveled for Strong, Bulbul & Co., of New York, I had never heard of the firm.

To listen to their representative, it would appear that Strong, Bulbul & Co.