Limousine canton ohio
15 Best Cheap Limo Service in Canton, OH
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We are the ultimate party bus, limo service and charter bus rental company in Canton, OH that has the largest selection of rentals. Travel conveniently in Canton with a party bus rental or a coach bus rental perfect for group transportation.
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Welcome to Price4Limo, where you'll find the best prices on limo services in Canton. We have been providing our customers with the most affordable and reliable transportation options for years. We know that you have many choices when it comes to booking a limo service, but we also know that you won't be disappointed with the quality of our work or our prices. Whether you're looking for a ride home from the airport or a night out on the town with your friends, we have just what you need. We'll take care of everything else from there. If you have any questions about pricing or availability, please don't hesitate to contact us today.
If you are looking for a group transportation provider we have party buses that can accommodate up to 40 passengers! Great for traveling with friends and family. For smaller parties a limo service is the perfect method of transportation for any type of event. Are you traveling with more than 50 passengers? A charter bus rental is a great way to shuttle large groups of passengers, a bus rental can comfortably seat up to 60 passengers or more.
Looking for something bigger? Explore our Canton party buses, perfect for medium sized parties. For bigger groups of passengers take a look at our coach buses and mini buses that make it easy to travel with big groups!
Canton Limo Rental
Ride around like a VIP in a classic limousine. Our limo rentals come equipped with LED Lights, MP3 sound system and enough room to fit you and your friends.
Nothing compares to arriving to your reservations in a limousine.
Hummer Limo
18 Passengers
Chrysler 300 Limo
12 Passengers
Cadillac Escalade Limo
15 Passengers
Black Hummer Limo Rental
18 Passengers
White Stretch Limo Rental
12 Passengers
Black Lincoln Limousine Rental
12 Passengers
Black Escalade Limo Rental
12 Passengers
Infiniti Limousine Rentals
12 Passengers
White Escalade Limo Rental
12 Passengers
Canton Party Buses
A party bus rental is the perfect vehicle to transport you and your friends around town. Most party bus busses are equipped with LED lights, spacious couches and an amazing sound system.
Sprinter Party Bus
14 Passengers
20 Passenger Party Bus
20 Passengers
22 Passenger Party Bus
22 Passengers
Black Party Bus Rentals
22 Passengers
White Party Bus Rentals
18 Passengers
Sprinter Party Bus Rental
22 Passengers
Canton Charter Bus Company
Charter buses and coach bus rentals are the perfect method of transportation for large groups.
Sports teams, corporate, schools often rents these to transport parties large distances. These buses are equipped with cold A/C and an ample amount of legroom with luggage storage.
40 Passenger Charter Bus
40 Passengers
50 Passenger Charter Bus
50 Passengers
60 Passenger Charter Bus
60 Passengers
45 Passenger Coach Bus
45 Passengers
White Coach Bus Rental
50 Passengers
Canton Charter Bus Rental
60 Passengers
Limo Rentals in Canton, OH
When it comes to planning a party or special event in Canton, Ohio, we understand that you want to impress your guests. That's why we offer high-quality and affordable limo rentals from our fleet of new transportation vehicles. Our limousines are perfect for any occasion, whether you're organizing a prom night for your teens or celebrating your 50th birthday with family and friends. We also have many types of buses available for rent so that you can enjoy the comfort of traveling with all your closest friends or colleagues at once.
With Price4Limo, you can trust us to help plan your limo rentals in Canton Ohio. Our website helps you choose your limo rental by offering convenient online booking tools for choosing a car, truck or SUV for all occasions. We have a large fleet of vehicles available at prices that beat the competition every day. Our customer service team is here to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have about our services and pricing plans. They are ready to answer questions via phone call or email 24 hours per day, 7 days per week so feel free to contact them with any questions or concerns.
You can book a limo in Canton, Ohio through our simple online booking tools. Using the options on our website, you can view all of the available vehicles and their rates before making your selection. It’s easy to use and convenient for customers. Price4Limo has cheap rates on limo, sprinter van, limos, charter bus, and coach bus rentals in Canton, Ohio and the surrounding area.
Canton Limo Service Near Me
Searching for an affordable limo service near you isn’t that stressful because Price4Limo provides the best limousines in Canton.
You can choose from Hummer Limo, Cadillac Escalade, Lexus, BMW, Stretch Lincoln, Chrysler 300, and Ford Excursion. Our limos can accommodate 8 to 22 passengers and also loaded with lots of features.
Canton Limousine Service Requests
Our limo company makes sure that you can enjoy using our limousines without worrying about the cost. Feel free to contact us anytime because we can help you make any occasion successful and memorable. Listed below are just some of the occasions where you can find our limousines beneficial.
- Birthdays – We provide themed limousines for your kid’s birthday party. We also have limousine with great amenities for a more enjoyable party.
- Prom Nights – As a teenager, it is expected that your prom night can be one of the most memorable moments. So aside from dressing up in an elegant way, you can consider hiring our prom limo service for a sophisticated look.
- Wedding – Hiring a limousine service is a common thing for weddings.
This will provide the bride with an added elegance to get the attention of the crowd. - Bachelor/bachelorette parties – Entering a new chapter in your life can be a great decision. So before you decide getting married you can spend the last days of your life being single with your best friends using our bachelorette party limo service.
Luxury limo service Canton for your wedding. When it comes to planning your wedding, you want everything to be perfect. The last thing you want is to have a stressful time worrying about the details of your special day. When you choose to hire an experienced Canton limo rental service, such as us, you can rest easy knowing that all the details will be taken care of for you. Our expert staff will work closely with you and your family members in order to make sure that every aspect is handled professionally and smoothly. We are dedicated not only to providing safe transportation on this day but also ensuring that our vehicles meet all your requirements for elegance and comfort throughout the entire event.
From picking up guests at their homes or hotels early in the morning until dropping them off at their destinations after the reception ends each night—we're here for whatever needs arise!
Enjoy nightlife & pub crawls our limousine buses. Limos are great for nightlife and pub crawls. For example, if you're in Canton, Ohio on a Friday or Saturday night, our limousines will be sure to get you to all the best places. Limo buses are also great for road trips and vacations. And if you're looking for something a little more unique than a traditional limousine rental, our party buses might be exactly what you need.
Have a special prom night with a Canton limousine rental. Prom night is a special occasion for high school students, their parents and the limo rental company. It's also a special occasion for the limousine driver because he or she will be driving you around in style throughout the evening. You do not have to worry about having fun at prom because your ride will be taken care of by Price4Limo.
High school and college graduation day limousines. When it comes to graduation day, you want to make sure you’re celebrating in style. Trust your high school or college graduation day limousine needs to us. We have a variety of vehicles available for you—from luxury SUVs and stretch limos to party buses and Hummers—and can help book the perfect ride for your special day. Our years of experience mean that we understand the importance of planning a fun, memorable celebration with loved ones, so we’ll work closely with you throughout each step of the process and help find exactly what works best for your big moment.
Business travelers enjoy our corporate event transportation. Corporate event transportation is a good way to get people to and from an event. It's important that you have a reliable, professional service that can accommodate different types of vehicles. We've been doing this for years and are committed to making sure your experience with us is the best it can be.
Reliable airport limos to Akron-Canton Airport. Airport limos are available for the Akron-Canton Airport, which is located about twenty miles from Canton. Price4Limo can help you get to the airport on time and safely with our reliable service. We'll take care of all the details so that you can focus on your travel plans and arrive at your destination relaxed and ready to enjoy your trip.
Organizing field trips with a party bus rental One of the best ways to get your whole team together, especially if you have a large class or your extended family, is renting a party bus. Party buses are great for any number of reasons, but they're particularly useful in this situation because they make it easy to seat everyone and keep them comfortable while traveling. Because there are so many people on board at once, having an open floor plan allows everyone to move around comfortably without feeling cramped or getting in each others' way. Plus, it's easy for kids and teens alike to get their own seat since there aren't any rows—and even better yet: no assigned seating.
You will be pleased to discover that Price4Limo has a wide range of options when it comes to limousine rentals. We have a variety of vehicles available at prices that are guaranteed to beat your local competitors. Our customer service team is here to help you every step of the way, from booking your reservation through navigating our website or even picking out the ideal vehicle for your trip.
Affordable Canton Limousine Prices
Hiring a limousine service in Canton, Ohio is no longer a burden because you can already have it at lower prices. In fact, you can have lots of options to choose from that will surely fit any occasion. We offer discounts and packages so you better check our website or call our customer service. You can also fill out a form to reserve a limousine.
Popular Attractions in Canton
Things to do in Canton, OH
- Pro Football Hall of Fame at 2121 George Halas Dr NW, Canton, OH, +1 330-456-8207 – The place offers people lots of features such as interactive replay booth, holographic theatre, largest football card collection, and more.
- Canton Classic Car Museum at 123 6th St SW, Canton, OH, +1 330-455-3603 – Car enthusiasts will surely love to visit this place where they can see classic cars from 1904 to 1981.
- Canton Palace Theatre at 605 Market Ave N, Canton, OH – It is a perfect venue for different kinds of events such as movies, concerts, weddings, and more.
Limo Rental Canton Prices
Stretch Limousines fit 6 to 8 people costs about $160 to $205 per hour. Need More Room? 15 passenger limo rental prices vary from $95 per hour from Sunday to Thursday and $117 on Friday and weekends. Limousine limousines can fit larger groups 15 to 20 passengers and are priced around $115 to $155 per hour. Hummer limos price start from $175 to $225 per hour.
- Limo service
- Limousines
- Sprinter Van
- SUV
- Coach Bus
Car Service Canton, Ohio Transportation
Are you in need of airport transportation services in Canton? Price 4 Limo provides the best professional airport car services.
Offering Nationwide services to all major airports and local. Available around the clock, pick and choose from a variety of fleet such as Sprinter Vans, Lincoln Sedans, and Stretch Limousines. Enter your pick up date, time and airport and book online now. Pricing for airport transportation services range from $95 to $500. Car service pricing in Canton starts from $85 to $350. Prices vary from city to city. This is just an estimate.
- SUV Limos - From $150
- Limos - From $150
- Sedans - From $150
- Sprinter Vans - From $200
- Coach Bus - From $500
Limo Service North Canton | Party Bus Rentals North Canton, OH
Jun 20, 2019
Airport Car Service from LAX Airport to...
Airport Car Service from LAX Airport to Hotel, Los Angeles Simply outstanding & professional service. I was impressed to see the driver from baggage claim and he noted which carousel our bags are coming out from.
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Shahnawaz Khan
Jun 19, 2019
Night on the Town in Charter Bus Las Vegas
I am completely satisfied with their service. The car arrived on time and it was clean, well-maintained and comfortable. Actually, I asked Global Limos to arrange a 10-Seater Limo as I thought it would go well with 9 people but we ended up with 8 people.
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Ionut
Jun 17, 2019
Sporting Tour in Hummer Limo Boston
Last year I had hosted a Sporting tour and the vehicle was extremely luxurious. I personally recommend Manny, not only he is prompt and polite but he provides all the amenities you could ever imagine.
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Jon DeAngleo
Feb 9, 2019
SUV Rental from Newark Airport
We flew in from Chicago to Newark, EWR, airport.
My colleagues and I needed an SUV for business transportation. Global arranged a 2018 Cadillac Escalade SUV for us. Our driver was great, professional; he took us to our meetings on time
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Journ Along
Jan 27, 2019
Seattle to Portland Charter Bus Service
Seattle to Portland charter bus service for 40 passengers. Dave is a professional person. He booked the bus for last minute, the driver came on time & drove the bus very safely. Danny, our driver, even made a pit-stop for us to get some snacks along the way.
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Manny Gill
Jan 11, 2019
Hummer Limo Rental NYC
We rented a Hummer limo in New York City from Globallimos.
com in October 2018. When most of the companies were sold out, David from Global made the rental possible for us. Not only was it a newer Hummer limo for 20 passengers in good condition,
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Tommy M
Jan 9, 2019
Executive Party Bus - amazing customer service
I guess not much is known about party buses, at-least, I did not know much. Our company needed an executive bus for our company in Seattle, WA. Global came through and made it happen, I must mention that Daisy very dedicated,
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Angel Sanyo
Dec 27, 2018
I used this service in Reno
I used this service in Reno. My driver was excellent, making the eight hour round trip enjoyable.
I would highly recommend this service to anyone in any area.
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Courtney Rutt
Dec 9, 2018
Booked our party bus in Seattle for a...
Booked our party bus in Seattle for a corporate Christmas Party. We had fun, good rate, nice 32 passenger bus, and a cool driver. Will be renting from them again.
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Ruben Jacobs
Nov 24, 2018
Honest agent of Global Limos
Honest agent of Global Limos, David, helped me pick a SUV, Escalade, for my trip from Hollywood to Anaheim. I initially wanted to book a limo, instead of up-selling me, he offered me what I required and was the most comfortable option.
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Moshe Kakar
Jun 11, 2018
Great Company!!
Global Limos was a great experience.
They took my family to the airport and we had a wonderful ride. A great driver and a brand new car.
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Evan Sandler
Apr 5, 2018
Great Company!
Great Company!! Excellant service and clean cars all new.
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evan sandler
Scott Fitzgerald - Penny Down the Wind
The bar of the Ritz Hotel in Paris is one of those places where important events take place, like the first bench at the entrance to Central Park, or the southern states, or the office of Morris Gest [1], or the city Herrin (Illinois)[2]. I myself saw how marriages collapsed here because of a rash word, how a professional dancer and a British baron beat each other with their fists, and I personally know about at least two murders that would have definitely happened there if it had not been in July and if there was room.
Yes, yes, even murder requires space, and in July there are no seats in the bar of the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
Go there on a summer evening at six o'clock - just put your feet carefully so as not to inadvertently tear the "bags" [3] of some student - and you will surely meet an actor who owes you a hundred dollars, or you will see the same stranger who one day gave you a light in the town of Red Wing, Minnesota, or that soft-spoken guy who stole your girlfriend ten years ago ... One thing is for sure: exactly the moment before you disappear into the creamy green Parisian twilight, you will be overcome the feeling that you are in one of those places that are destined to be the center of the world.
Go to the center of the room at half past seven and stand for half an hour with your eyes closed - this is just a thought experiment - and then open your eyes. Grey, blue, brown and bluish-gray will disappear, and the haberdashers say that black and white will become the prevailing hues.
Another half an hour, and the shades will disappear completely - the hall will be almost empty. The holders of the invitations went to supper where they were invited; those who were left without invitations will pretend that they also have them. And even a couple of Americans who opened today in the bar have already been taken away by their good friends. The clock hand makes its usual electric jump to the number nine, and we also jump right there ...
Nine pm Ritz time - which is exactly the same as the rest of the world. Mr. Julius Bushmill (manufacturer; b. Canton, Ohio, June 1, 1876; married 1899, Jesse Pepper; Freemason; Republican; Congregationalist; Delegate, Mat. Ass. Hansen & Co. from 1911; the director of Midland R.R. Indiana, and others) enters the hall, running a silk handkerchief across his flushed crimson forehead. The forehead is his own. He's wearing a nice tuxedo but no vest, as the hotel footman mistakenly sent both of his vests to the dry cleaners - a long-winded explanation of the fact went on for half an hour.
Needless to say, the successful manufacturer feels himself a victim of natural embarrassment because of his inappropriate attire. He left his loving wife and beautiful daughter in the common room of the hotel while he went in search of a tonic in order to gain strength to visit the elite and luxurious dining room.
There was only one person in the bar: a tall, dark-haired, sinisterly handsome young American, hunched over in a corner on a leather sofa, staring at Mr. Bushmill's patent leather boots. Mr. Bushmill looked at his feet in embarrassment, wondering if, thanks to the footman's efforts, he had also lost his shoes. And so great was his relief when the shoes were in place that he smiled broadly at the young man, and his hand automatically reached into the pocket of his tuxedo for a business card.
Not a single vest! he said affably. “The damned lackey took both!” See?
He demonstrated the scandalous nakedness of his starched shirt.
— Excuse me? Startled, the young man looked at him.
"Vest," repeated Mr. Bushmill, not so fervently. - Lost my vest!
The young man thought.
"I didn't see him," he replied.
"Not here," said Bushmill. - Upstairs in the room!
“So you can ask Jack,” the young man prompted and waved his hand in the direction of the bar.
Among the shortcomings of the American character is a complete lack of respect for moments of human thought. Bushmill sat down, offered the young man something to drink, finally got the reluctant acceptance of a milkshake treat, and after explaining the whole vest business in detail, threw his business card on the table. He did not belong to the "impressive" and "coat" type of millionaires, so often found in the current post-war times. He was more like sample 1910 years: a cross between Henry VIII and "our Mr. Jones will be in Minneapolis on Friday." He was louder, more provincial and sincere than the representatives of the new formation.
He liked the young man - his own young man would have been about the same age, if not for the inexorable stubbornness of the German machine gunners in the last days of the war.
“I'm here with my wife and daughter,” he said. - What is your name?
“Corcoran,” the young man replied kindly but without much enthusiasm.
Are you American or English?
- American.
— Do you work?
— No.
— How long have you been here? Bushmill asked stubbornly.
The young man hesitated to answer.
“I was born here,” he said.
Bushmill's eyes flickered involuntarily in the direction of the bar.
— Born here?! he repeated.
Corcoran smiled.
- Upstairs, on the fifth floor.
The waiter placed drinks and a plate of Saratoga potato chips on the table[4]. And a most interesting phenomenon immediately appeared before Bushmill's eyes: Corcoran's hand began to flicker up and down, from the plate to the mouth, with each movement moving a thick layer of potatoes into the greedily gaping maw, until there was nothing left on the plate at all.
"I beg your pardon," Corcoran said, looking around at his empty plate with some regret.
Then he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his fingers. - I somehow didn’t think ... I’m sure you can order more.
And suddenly a whole series of details caught Bushmill's eye: for example, the sunken cheeks of a young man, which in no way should have been, based on his physique - these were failures from malnutrition or ill health; and the fine soft fabric of his suit, most certainly made in Bond Street, was glossy from many ironings, and the elbows so simply shone; and all of a sudden he somehow immediately weakened, as if his body began to digest potatoes and milkshake immediately, without waiting for the usual half hour.
— So, you were born here? said Bushmill thoughtfully. - It seems that you have lived abroad for a long time?
Yes.
— How long has it been since the last time you ate normally?
The young man started.
— Yes, I had dinner! - he said. - I had lunch at one o'clock.
"At one o'clock ... last Friday," Bushmill said skeptically.
There was a long silence.
“Well, yes,” Corcoran admitted, “about one o'clock last Friday.
— What, broke? Or are you waiting for money from your homeland?
- This is my home. Corcoran cast an absent-minded glance around. — I spent my whole life in different hotels of the Ritz chain, here and there. I don't think they'll believe up there that I don't have any money. But now I have enough money just to pay the bill tomorrow and leave.
Bushmill frowned.
"For how much a day costs you here, you could live in a small hotel for a week," he remarked.
— Are there any decent hotels besides this one?
Corcoran smiled apologetically. It was an uncommonly charming and perfectly confident smile, and Julius Bushmill felt a surge of respectful pity. In him, as in all those who have achieved success on their own, there was also a bit of snobbery, and he understood that the young man had now spoken the purest truth.
— And what are your plans?
None.
— Do you know how to do something? Are there any abilities?
Corcoran thought about it.
“I speak almost all European languages,” he said. - But I'm afraid I have only one ability: I know how to spend money!
— And how did you discover this in yourself?
— Well, nothing depended on me here. He paused again. “Just finished off half a million dollars.
Bushmill's exclamation died at the first sound, as a new voice broke the privacy of the barroom - irritated, reproachful and filled with cheerful anxiety.
- Has anyone here seen a man without a vest named Bushmill? Ancient old man, about fifty? We have been waiting for him for the second or third hour!
- Hallie! called Bushmill with a penitent groan, "I'm here!" Completely forgot about you.
“Don't flatter yourself, we didn't miss you,” Hallie said, coming closer. We only want your money! Mom and I are hungry, we need food; while we were waiting for you in the hall, we were almost fed by two pleasant French gentlemen.
- Mr. Corcoran! Bushmill said. - My daughter!
Hallie Bushmill was young and bright blonde, with a boyish haircut and a slightly protruding forehead, like a child's, under which there were neat and perfect features that seemed to dance when she smiled. She constantly restrained their tendency to such frivolous fun, as if fearing that, as soon as control loosened, they would never be returned to this nursery under a child's forehead.
"Mr. Corcoran was born right here at the Ritz," the father announced. "I'm sorry to keep you and Mommy waiting, but we were, frankly, preparing a surprise here." He looked at Corcoran and winked openly. “As you remember, the day after tomorrow I have to go to England on business, to one of those terrible industrial cities. I planned that you and your mother would go on a month trip through Belgium and Holland, ending in Amsterdam, where your... Where Mr. Nosby would meet you.
"Yeah, I already know that," Hallie said. - Continue! Where is the surprise?
“I was planning on hiring a travel agent,” continued Mr.
Bushmill, “but luckily I bumped into my friend Corcoran today and he agreed to go instead of the agent.
— Yes, I didn't say a word… — Corcoran interrupted in amazement, but Bushmill continued, decisively waving his hand away from him:
— He was born in Europe and knows it like the back of his hand; birthplace - the Ritz Hotel - suggests that he knows everything about hotels; and thanks to his rich experience…” here he looked meaningfully at Corcoran, “you and your mother will not look ridiculous and will see what the “golden mean” means!
— Excellent! Hallie looked at Corcoran with interest. — We'll take the usual route, mister...
At this point she stopped. For the past few minutes, Corcoran's face had had an odd look on it. And suddenly it turned into something like a frightened pallor.
“Mr. Bushmill,” he said with difficulty, “I need to talk to you face to face, right now. It is very important. I...
Hallie jumped up.
"I'll go and stay with my mother," she said with a curious look.
"And hurry up, both of you!"
As she left the bar, Bushmill looked at Corcoran with concern.
— What happened? - he asked. - What do you want to tell me?
— I want to say that I'm about to faint! Corcoran replied.
And so he did - and what is remarkable, without any delay.
II
Despite Bushmill's immediate sympathy for Corcoran, it goes without saying that certain inquiries had to be made. At the Paris branch of the New York bank, where the balance of half a million was kept, Bushmill was told everything he needed to know. Corcoran did not drink, was not a gambler, and did not indulge in vices; he was just spending money, that's all. Various people, including bank employees who made acquaintances with his relatives, tried more than once to talk to him, but he was obviously an incurable spender. Childhood and youth, spent in Europe with his mother madly indulging him in everything, completely atrophied his sense of understanding of value and proportionality.
Satisfied, Bushmill didn't ask any more questions: no one knew what had become of the money, and if anyone did, it was simply out of delicacy that he decided not to delve into the recent past. But before the travelers departed on the train, Bushmill took the opportunity to deliver a pep talk.
“I trust you to manage all expenses, because I think you have learned a good lesson,” he said. But remember: this time the money is not yours! All you are due is seventy-five dollars a week, which I pay you in the form of a salary. Any other expenses must be recorded in this notebook, and then you will give me an account.
- I understand.
— First, watch what the money is spent on, and prove that you have enough common sense and that you have learned your lesson. And the second and most important: make sure that my wife and daughter are not bored, and have a good time.
With the first salary he received, Corcoran bought travel guides and books on the history of Holland and Belgium, and sat with them until late the night before leaving, as well as the first night after arriving in Brussels, absorbing a lot of information that he did not suspect, despite all his travels in the company of his mother.
They never saw the sights. Mother thought it was only for schoolteachers and vulgar tourists to do this, but Mr. Bushmill emphasized that Hallie should make the most of the trip, and he should make it interesting for her by preparing well in advance for the day's program.
They were to spend five days in Brussels. On the first morning, Corcoran bought three tickets for the tour bus, and they toured town halls, palaces, monuments, and parks, while he corrected the guide's historical errors in a loud whisper and congratulated himself on doing well.
But in the afternoon, while they were driving through the streets, it began to drizzle, and he was tired of the sound of his own voice and the polite "Oh, how interesting!" Hallie, echoed by her mother, and began to wonder if it was too much to spend five whole days here? And yet he no doubt succeeded in impressing them; it was a good start to appear before them as a serious and erudite young man. And he was good with money too.
Resisting the temptation he had to hire a private limousine for the day, which would have cost twelve dollars, he bought three regular bus tickets, a dollar each, which was all he needed to write down in his notebook. Before starting the evening reading, he entered this entry in Mr. Bushmill's notebook. But first of all, he took a hot cleansing bath - he had never ridden in a tourist car with ordinary tourists, and this neighborhood seemed painful to him.
The next day, not only the excursions continued, but also the drizzle, and in the evening, to his dismay, Mrs. Bushmill came down with a cold. Nothing major, but entailed two visits by doctors who were paid at American prices, and also had to pay for a dozen drugs that European doctors prescribe under any circumstances, and that evening I had to make this disheartening entry in a notebook:
One damaged hat (she said that the hat is still old, but it didn’t seem so to me) - 10.00
3 bus tickets, Monday - 3.
00
3 bus tickets, Tuesday - 2.00
Ignorant guide tips - 1.50
visits 00Medications - 2.25
Total for two days of sightseeing - 26.75
And to strike a balance, Corcoran thought, one could write down - if only he would listen to his first impulse:
One comfortable limousine, for two days, including tips for the driver - 26.00
The next morning, Mrs. Bushmill stayed in bed, while he and Halley took the sightseeing train to Waterloo. He diligently studied the strategy of the battle, and before proceeding to explain Napoleon's maneuvers, he gave a brief description of the political situation as a preface, but Halley's indifference discouraged him. Lunch intensified the anxiety. He regretted that he had not taken the cold lobster offered from the hotel restaurant with him, considering it too wasteful. The food at the local restaurant was disgusting, and Hallie looked longingly at the undercooked potatoes and overcooked steak, and then looked out the window, where the sad rain dripped.
Corcoran had no appetite either, but he forced himself to eat, pretending to enjoy everything. Two more days in Brussels! And then in Antwerp! And Rotterdam! And The Hague! Twenty-five days of nocturnal historical study, all for the sake of an indifferent young person who, in all likelihood, did not want any benefit from travel.
As he was leaving the restaurant, Hallie's voice interrupted his thoughts with new notes.
- Get a taxi. I want to go home!
He looked at her in horror.
— What? Do you want to leave without seeing the famous diorama, which presents all the main events, with life-size figures of dead soldiers in the foreground?
- Taxi out! she interrupted. — Hurry up!
— Taxi! he groaned as he followed the car straight through the mud. — Why, these taxi drivers are just robbers — for the same money you could hire a limousine back and forth!
They were silent all the way to the hotel. Entering the elevator, Hallie suddenly looked at him with determination.
- Please wear a tuxedo tonight. I want to go somewhere, dance - and, please, send me flowers!
Corcoran wondered if entertainment of this kind was in line with Mr. Bushmill's intentions, especially since Hallie, he believed, was practically engaged to Mr. Nosby, who was supposed to meet them in Amsterdam.
Confused with doubt, he went to a flower shop and asked about orchids. A bouquet of three would have cost twenty-four dollars, and he didn't want to put that expense on a notebook. Regretfully, he compromised in the form of a bouquet of sweet peas, and at seven in the evening, when she got off the elevator, he was relieved to see that she had attached this bouquet to her rose-petal dress.
Corcoran was amazed and embarrassed by her beauty - he had never seen her in an evening dress. The beautiful features bounced up and down in joyful anticipation, and he thought that Mr. Bushmill might still be able to afford orchids.
— Thank you for the wonderful flowers! she exclaimed impatiently.
— Where shall we go?
- There's a good orchestra down here in the hotel.
Her face drooped slightly.
— Well, you can start from here too...
They went down to the almost empty bar, where several companies scattered around the hall froze in summer languor; when the music started, only a few Americans got up from their tables and began defiantly pacing across the parquet. Halley and Corcoran went dancing. She was surprised when it turned out that he danced well - exactly the way any tall and slender man should dance, leading her in the dance so exquisitely that she felt like a bright bouquet or a piece of precious fabric, shown from all possible sides in front of five hundreds of eyes.
But when the dance was over, she realized that there were no eyes at all, and even after dinner they began to disappear indifferently and rapidly.
— Let's move to a more fun place? she suggested.
He frowned.
— Isn't it fun enough? he asked anxiously.
- I'm more for the "golden mean"!
- Not a bad name. Let's go there!
- No, this is not a cafe, this is a principle that I try to follow. Not sure if your father would like...
She flushed angrily.
— But where is your humanity? she asked. “When your father said that you were born at the Ritz, I thought you knew at least something about how to have fun!”
He couldn't find an answer. After all, why should a girl with such conspicuous beauty be doomed to vegetate in a hotel with deserted dance halls and on a tour in a tourist bus in the rain?
— Is that how you imagine unbridled fun? she continued. — Do you think of anything at all, besides history and monuments? Do you even know what fun is?
- I once knew very well.
— What?
- Actually, I used to be a real expert on spending money.
— Waste of money? she blurted out. — Here on this?!
She unfastened the bouquet from her dress and threw the flowers on the table.
Ask for the bill. I'm going upstairs to sleep.
“Very well,” said Corcoran suddenly. "I've made up my mind, you'll have fun!"
— And what is it? she asked with icy contempt. Will you take me to the cinema?
Miss Bushmill! Corcoran said decisively. - I once had fun like you, with your provincial Midwestern imagination, and did not dream in my wildest dreams! I hosted guests everywhere, from New York to Constantinople, and arranged such things from which even Indian rajas only bitterly roared with envy!
- Opera divas violated their contracts of ten thousand dollars to get into my smallest parties. When you were still playing the game of “guess who has the button” back in Ohio, I once threw such a fun party on a cruise that I had to sink my yacht to get the guests to go home!
- I don't believe it! I…” Hallie gasped in surprise.
"You're bored," he interrupted her. - Very well; I'll mind my own business. I will do what I can! From now on and all the way to Amsterdam, you will have more fun than ever!
III
Corcoran acted quickly.
That same evening, after taking Hallie to her room, he made several visits: in fact, he was extremely busy until eleven o'clock the next morning. It was at this hour that he knocked vigorously on the door of the Bushmills' suite.
“Today you are dining at the Brussels country club,” he said directly to Halley, “with the Prince of Abrisini, the Countess of Peremont, and the British attaché, Major Sir Reynolds Fitz-Hugh. The Balls-Ferrari Lando will be at the door in half an hour.
"But we were going to a food show," said Mrs. Bushmill in surprise. “We were planning…
“That's where you're going,” Corcoran said politely, “in the company of two good ladies from Wisconsin. And then you will go to an American cafe, where you will be served an American lunch, according to an American menu. At twelve o'clock a dark conservative limousine will be brought downstairs for you.
He turned to Hallie.
— Your new maid is about to arrive and help you get dressed.
She will also supervise the transfer of your belongings so that nothing gets lost in your absence. You will be receiving guests this afternoon, a small evening reception.
— How can I receive guests? Hallie exclaimed. “I don’t know anyone here!
"Invitations have already been sent out," Corcoran said.
Without waiting for further objections, he took his leave and went out the door.
The next three hours flew by like a whirlwind. There was also a sumptuous landau car with a footman in a top hat, satin breeches and plum livery sitting next to the driver; the interior of the limousine was decorated with a whole lot of orchids in small vases. There were also impressive titles, which she listened to while falling into a trance at a rose-petal-strewn table in a country club; as if out of nowhere during dinner, a dozen more gentlemen materialized, and they all stopped at her table to introduce themselves to her. Even in those two years when Hallie was considered a young debutante in a small town in Ohio, she did not receive so much attention, and there were not so many compliments; her beautiful features jumped up and down with pleasure.
Back at the hotel, she found that everything had been cleverly moved to the royal suite, which had a huge salon and two sunny bedrooms overlooking the garden. Her capped maid is the real French maid she herself once portrayed in a school play! — was waiting for orders, and in the manner of absolutely all the staff of the hotel, a completely new respect was felt. She went up the stairs, and everyone bowed to her; with bows, she was escorted into the elevator, gently pushing the other guests aside, and the elevator doors slammed shut right in front of a couple of angry English women, immediately lifting her right to her floor.
The daytime appointment was a great success. Hallie's mother, visibly encouraged by a pleasant time spent in suitable company, was chatting with the local pastor of the American church, and the admiring Hallie was surrounded by a crowd of charming and helpful gentlemen. She was surprised to learn that today she was still giving an evening ball in the fashionable Café Royal, and even this daytime reception faded before the splendor of the evening.
She had no idea that two specially hired professional dancers were leaving Paris for Brussels on a half-day train - until they, with their usual gaiety, jumped right onto the shining parquet. But she knew that for each dance she had a dozen gentlemen at once, and their conversations did not concern either monuments or battlefields. If she hadn't been so incredibly and pleasantly tired, she certainly would never have agreed when Corcoran came up to her at midnight and told her it was time for her to go home.
And only half asleep, in the luxurious interior of the limousine, did she find time to be surprised.
— But how?! How did you do it?
"Nothing special, I just didn't have time," Corcoran replied dismissively. “I know several young people from embassies. Brussels, you see, is not a very cheerful city, so they are always ready to shake it up a little. And everything else is even easier. Had a good time?
No response.
— Did you have a good time? he repeated, slightly alarmed.
- You see, it’s not worth continuing if you suddenly had ...
"The Battle of Wellington was won by Major Sir Corcoran Fitz-Hugh Abrisini," she muttered confidently, but not very clearly.
Hallie fell asleep.
IV
Three days later Hallie finally agreed to leave Brussels and the journey continued through Antwerp, Rotterdam and The Hague. But it was no longer the journey that began in Paris a week ago. They traveled in two limousines, since travelers were now accompanied by no less than two courteous gentlemen, not to mention the four hired servants who made throws along the route on trains. Guidebooks and history books were no longer available to Corcoran. In Antwerp, we stopped not just at a hotel, but at the famous old hunting castle in the suburbs, which Corcoran rented for six days, along with servants and everything.
Before leaving, a photograph of Hallie appeared in the Antwerp newspapers, accompanied by a short article saying that a beautiful young American woman from a wealthy family was staying at a Brabant hunting castle and gave such delightful receptions that even a certain representative of the royal family was seen at them several times.
In Rotterdam, Hallie didn't see either Boumpies or the Grote Kerk, they were eclipsed by a stream of handsome young Dutchmen looking at her with soft blue eyes. But when they arrived in The Hague and the journey began to come to an end, she began to feel a little sad: she had so much fun, but soon everything would be over, and there would be no more ... Amsterdam and a certain gentleman from Ohio, who did not understand anything in entertainment "on a grand scale"; although she tried to appear cheerful, she was not at all cheerful. It also distressed her that Corcoran seemed to be trying to avoid her: he had barely spoken to her or danced with her since they left Antwerp. That's what she mostly thought about on the last day, when they drove to Amsterdam at dusk, and her mother dozed in the corner of the limousine.
“You've been so kind to me,” she said. “If you are still angry about that evening in Brussels, please forgive me!”
— I forgave you a long time ago.
They entered the city in silence, and Hallie looked out the window with some panic. What will she do when there is no one to take care of her - to take care of that part of her that wanted to be forever young and cheerful? They pulled up to the hotel, and she turned back to Corcoran, and their eyes met—and it was a strange, uneasy look. She reached for his hand and shook it gently, as if it were goodbye.
Mr. Claude Nosby was a solid, dark-haired and polished man, rapidly approaching forty; as he helped Hallie out of the car, he darted a hostile glance at Corcoran.
"Your father is arriving tomorrow," he said ominously. “Your photograph in the Antwerp newspaper caught his attention, and he is in a hurry here from London.
— Why shouldn't my photograph appear in the Antwerp newspaper, eh, Claude? Hallie asked innocently.
- Well, that's a bit unusual.
Mr. Nosby had a letter from Mr. Bushmill telling him how he arranged the trip. Nosby looked at all this with deep dislike.
At dinner, without any enthusiasm, he listened to Hallie's account of the journey, warmly supported by her mother; then, after Hallie and her mother had gone to bed, he informed Corcoran that he would like to speak to him alone.
“Hmm, Mr. Corcoran,” he began, “would you be so kind as to show me those expense records you keep for Mr. Bushmill, please?”
"I can't do that, unfortunately," Corcoran replied kindly. “I think this is just me and Mr. Bushmill.
"Well, it's the same for you," Mr. Nosby said irritably. “You may not know, but Mrs. Bushmill and I are engaged.
— Yes, I already guessed.
— And perhaps you also guessed that I'm not entirely happy with the sort of pastime you've chosen for her?
— It was the usual pleasant pastime.
- Well, that's how you look. Give me a notebook, please!
"Tomorrow," Corcoran said, still amiable. “And only in the hands of Mr. Bushmill. Goodnight!
Corcoran woke up late. At eleven o'clock in the morning he was awakened by the ringing of the telephone, from which the cold voice of Nosby informed him of the arrival of Mr.
Bushmill, who wished to see him immediately. When Corcoran knocked on his employer's door ten minutes later, he found Hallie and her mother also in the room, sitting sullenly on the couch. Mr. Bushmill bowed coolly, but did not offer his hand.
"Let's look at your expense pad," he got straight to the point.
Corcoran handed him the pad, along with a plump envelope of receipts and checks.
— Heard you all went to pieces there? Bushmill said.
— No, — said Halle, — just me and my mother.
- Corcoran, wait outside the door. I will call you when you need me.
Corcoran went down to the lobby and learned from the porter that the train to Paris leaves at noon. Then I bought the New York Herald and looked at the headlines for half an hour. At the end of this time, he was called upstairs.
It was obvious that there had been a heated argument in his absence. Mr. Nosby looked out of the window with an air of patient resignation. Mrs. Bushmill was weeping, and Hallie, her childish brow furrowed triumphantly, sat down on her father's knee as if on a stool.
- Sit down! she said firmly.
Corcoran sat.
— For what purpose did you arrange all this fun for us?
- Oh, come on, Hallie! said the father in annoyance. He turned to Corcoran. "Did I give you permission to lay down twelve thousand dollars in six weeks?" Did you give?!
— You are coming to Italy with us! Hallie interrupted in a reassuring tone. — We…
— Could you be quiet? Bushmill exploded. “You may think this is funny, but I don’t like to lose money, and now I’m very angry!”
— What nonsense? Hallie remarked cheerfully. “You yourself were laughing a minute ago!”
- Laughed! Over this idiotic report? Who wouldn't laugh? Four titles for five hundred dollars a nose! Baptismal font for the American church, in exchange for the presence of clergy. It's just a journal of the emergency room of a lunatic asylum!
— What is it? Hallie said. “The baptismal font can be deducted on your tax return!”
— Yes, I consoled you! said the father sternly.
“Be that as it may, this young man will not spend another penny on my behalf!”
— But he is a wonderful guide! He knows everything, right? All about all sorts of monuments, catacombs and the battle of Waterloo.
— Please let me speak to Mr. Corcoran! Hallie was silent. “Mrs. Bushmill, my daughter, and Mr. Nosby are going on a trip through Italy, to Sicily, where Mr. Nosby has some business to attend to, and they wish… Or rather, Halle and her mother think that the trip will be more useful if you are with them.” you will go too. Just get it right: this time there will be no royal balls! You will receive your salary, all your personal expenses - at my expense, and that's all! Would you like to go?
“No, thank you, Mr. Bushmill,” Corcoran said quietly. I am returning to Paris at noon.
- Don't come back! Hallie exclaimed indignantly. - How can I ... How do you think I find out where the Forum is, where the Acropolis is, and all that? She got off her father's knee.
- So, daddy, now I'll persuade him! And before they could guess what was about to happen, she grabbed Corcoran by the arm and dragged him into the corridor, shutting the door behind them.
— You must go! she said forcefully. “Don't you understand? I saw Claude in a new light, and I cannot marry him, and I dare not tell my father - I'll go crazy if I have to go in his company!
The door opened and a suspicious Mr. Nosby peered out into the corridor.
- It's all right! Hallie exclaimed. - He will go! The question was only in salary, and he was too shy to say so.
They returned to the room and Bushmill looked from her to him.
— Why did you decide that I should pay you more?
— So that he can spend more, of course! Hallie said triumphantly. Should he keep fit?
This undeniable argument ended the discussion. Corcoran went with them to Italy as a courier and guide, with a salary of three hundred and fifty dollars a month, about fifty dollars more than he had previously received.
From Sicily they will go by steamer to Marseilles, where Mr. Bushmill will meet them. Corcoran's services would no longer be needed after this, for the Bushmills and Nosbys sailed straight home from there.
The next morning they set off. Even before they reached Italy, it became obvious that Mr. Nosby intended to take the leadership of the expedition into his own hands. He noticed that Hallie was no longer as submissive and controllable as she had been before the trip abroad, and when he talked about the wedding, some strange indecision suddenly attacked her - but he knew very well that she adored her father and in the end always does as he tells her. I should have just brought her back to America before stupid youngsters like this unbalanced spender had time to fill her head with all sorts of nonsense. As soon as she finds herself in her small factory town, in that narrow circle where she grew up, her former attitude will return to her without any effort.
Therefore, for the first four weeks of the trip, he did not leave her a single step, and at the same time managed to occupy almost all of Corcoran's time with a series of unnecessary assignments.
He would get up early in the morning and send Corcoran to accompany Mrs. Bushmill on an all-day excursion, without saying anything to Hallie until they were safely out of the way. Tickets for the Milanese opera and the Rome concerts were bought strictly for three, and on all car trips he made it clear to Corcoran that he would sit next to the driver, in the front compartment of the limousine.
They stopped for one day in Naples to take a boat to the island of Capri and visit the famous Blue Grotto. Then, returning to Naples, they drove south by car, all the way to Sicily. In Naples, Mr. Nosby received a telegram from Paris from Mr. Bushmill, and did not show it to anyone, but simply folded it in half and put it in his pocket. He only said that on the way to the boat to Capri, he would have to make a stop to go to some Italian bank.
Mrs. Bushmill did not go with them that morning, and Halley and Corcoran stayed in the car waiting for him. For the first time in four weeks, they were together without the pressure of the polished Mr.
Nosby.
“I need to talk to you,” Hallie said quietly. I tried many times, but it's almost impossible! He made my father tell me that if you begin to annoy me or show signs of attention, then he has the right to immediately send you home!
"I shouldn't have gone," Corcoran replied hopelessly. “It was a terrible mistake. But I want to see you alone one more time, even if it's the last.
As soon as Nosby left the bank, Corcoran immediately fell silent and casually stared out into the street, pretending to be completely absorbed in some interesting phenomenon going on there. And suddenly, as if life itself decided to play along with him, something interesting really happened on the corner of the street in front of the bank. A man without a jacket ran out from the adjoining street, grabbed the shoulder of a small swarthy hunchback who was standing there, and, hastily turning him around, pointed to their taxi. This man without a jacket did not even try to see them, as if he was sure that they were in this car.
The hunchback nodded and both of them immediately disappeared: the first disappeared into the adjoining street from which he had come, and the hunchback seemed to disappear into nowhere. Everything happened so quickly that Corcoran had only a vague picture in his memory, and there was no time to remember it all until they returned from Capri eight hours later.
That morning, from the moment they set sail, the bay of Naples was stormy, and the small steamer swayed like a drunk from the incessant waves. Almost immediately, Mr. Nosby's complexion began to change its gamut, successively passing through the stages of yellowness, pallor and deathly pallor, but Nosby insisted that he almost did not feel the roll and made Hallie walk up and down the deck with him in an endless promenade.
When the steamer reached the rocky and bright island, many boats immediately left the shore, swirling dizzily in the surrounding waves, waiting for passengers who wanted to view the Blue Grotto.
The endless dance of St. Vitus, performed by boats on the waves, caused Mr. Nosby to change his shade from a respectable pale to an extravagant and inappropriate blue, which forced him to make a sudden decision.
"Too stormy," he announced. - We're not going!
Hallie, leaning against the railing and gazing enchantedly at the sea, didn't even notice. Enticing shouts were heard from below:
- This is a great boat, lady and gentleman!
— And I speak American, America was two years old!
- Nice sunny day, just right for the Blue Grotto!
The first passengers had already left, two in a boat, and Hallie began to descend the gangway with the next.
— Halle, where are you going? shouted Mr. Nosby. "It's too dangerous today!" We stay on board!
Halfway down the ladder, Hallie looked over her shoulder.
— Of course, I will go! she called. “How can you go all this way to Capri and not see the Blue Grotto?
Nosby looked at the sea again and hastily ran away.
And Hallie, followed by Corcoran, stepped into one of the small boats and waved cheerfully goodbye.
They approached the shore, heading for a small dark crevice in the rocks. They swam closer, and the boatman asked to go down to the bottom of the boat so as not to hit his head on the low entrance to the grotto. A short path in the darkness, and now a vast space opened up before them, and they found themselves in a magnificent ultramarine paradise, in a cave resembling a cathedral, where everything - water, air, and a high arch - sparkled and shimmered with all shades of blue.
— How beautiful! said the boatman in a singsong voice. He stroked the oar across the water, and they saw the oar, as if by magic, turn silver.
- Now I'll dip my hand into the water! Hallie shouted in delight. They both knelt, and as Hallie reached forward to dip her hand under the surface of the water, both were enveloped in enchanted light, and their lips touched, and then the whole world turned blue and silver—or it wasn't the world anymore, but enchanted magic, in which they will now abide forever?
— How beautiful! said the boatman in a singsong voice.
"Go back to the Blue Grotto tomorrow, and the next day!" Ask Federico, there is no better guide for the Blue Grotto! Ah, how wonderful!
And again their lips were looking for each other, and the silvery blueness seemed to soar above them like fireworks, exploding and falling down on their shoulders like a veil of colored atoms that separated them from time and from other people's views. They kissed again. Here and there in the cave the voices of tourists were heard, echoing from the vaults. A tanned, naked boy dived off a high cliff, cutting through the water like a silver fish, and thousands of platinum bubbles rose from the bottom into the blue light.
“I love you with all my heart,” she whispered. - What do we do? Oh, honey, if only you had a modicum of common sense about money!
The cave was empty, small boats were sailing out one after another into the sparkling restless sea.
- Farewell, Blue Grotto! sang the boatman. - Come back, hurry up!
Blinded by the sunlight, they sat apart and looked at each other.
But although the silvery blue remained in the cave, her face continued to radiate radiance.
- I love you! - sounded like an indisputable truth here, under the blue sky.
Mr. Nosby waited on deck, but did not utter a word - he only looked at them carefully, and sat between them all the way back to Naples. But despite his tangible presence, there was nothing to separate them now. It would be quicker for him to wedge his planned four thousand miles between them ...
And only when they landed on the shore and walked along the pier did Corcoran abruptly lose his ecstatic and desperate mood; something sharply reminded of the morning's incident. Right in the way, as if waiting for them, stood a swarthy hunchback, to whom a man without a jacket pointed out their taxi. As soon as he saw them, he immediately stepped sideways and disappeared into the crowd. Passing by this place, Corcoran turned as if taking a last look at the steamer, and saw out of the corner of his eye that the hunchback, in turn, showed them to some other person.
When everyone got into the taxi, Mr. Nosby spoke up.
"Pack your things now," he said. “We take a car and leave for Palermo right after dinner.
— But we won't have time to get there in the evening! Hallie objected.
- Let's make a stop in Cosenza [7], it's halfway.
It was clear that he wanted to complete the journey as soon as possible. After dinner, he asked Corcoran to go with him to the hotel garage to hire a car for the trip, and Corcoran realized that this was only to avoid leaving him and Hallie alone. Nosby was in a bad mood - he said that the prices in the garage were too high, and in the end they went out into the street, where there was some kind of dilapidated taxi.
The taxi driver agreed to take them for twenty-five dollars.
"I don't think this wreck can take us," Corcoran ventured. — Don't you think it would be wiser to pay a little more and hire another car?
Nosby looked at him with ill-concealed malice.
“We are not at all like you,” he said dryly. We can't afford to throw money around!
Corcoran nodded coldly at this rebuke.
"Here's another thing," said Corcoran. “Tell me, did you borrow money from the bank this morning?” Or anything that could make you spy?
- What do you mean? Nosby asked hastily.
- Someone has been watching our every move all day.
Nosby looked at him shrewdly.
- You would really like us to stay in Naples for another day or two, wouldn't you? - he said. “But, unfortunately, you are not the head of this expedition. So if you want to stay, stay, but without us.
- And you won't hire another car?
— I'm a little tired of your advice!
In the hotel, as the porters loaded their suitcases into the tall interior of an old-fashioned car, Corcoran's sense of being watched again came back. He struggled to resist the instinctive urge to turn his head and look around carefully. If this is just a figment of his imagination, it is better to put it all out of your head immediately.
They left at almost eight in the evening, in a windy twilight. The sun had disappeared behind Naples, leaving behind a ruby-gold sky, and as they circled the bay and slowly climbed towards Torre Annunziata, the Mediterranean saluted for a moment the fading splendor of the day with the color of rosé wine. Vesuvius loomed overhead, and a continuous fountain of smoke rose from the crater, adding to the gloom of the oncoming night.
“We'll be in Cosenza around twelve,” Nosby said.
Everyone was silent. The city disappeared behind the hill, and now they themselves cross the hot and mysterious shaft of the Italian boot, where the famous “mafia” has risen from the lush thickets of human weeds and from where the no less famous “black hand” has risen, casting an ominous shadow on two continents. There was something eerie in the whistle of the wind that blew over those gray mountains topped with ruined castles. Hallie suddenly trembled.
- What a blessing that I am an American! - she said.
- Here, in Italy, it seems to me that everyone in the world has already died. So many dead people, and everyone is looking at us from these hills - Carthaginians, ancient Romans, Moorish pirates and medieval princes with their poisoned rings...
The sad darkness of the landscape affected everyone. The wind picked up, moaning and moving the black tops of the trees along the road. The engine thrashed, laboriously clambering up endless slopes, rolling down winding serpentine roads, and the brakes holding back momentum smelled of burning. They stopped in the small, dark village of Eboli to fill up with petrol, and while they waited for their change, another car emerged from the darkness and pulled up nearby.
Corcoran glared at her, but headlights shone in his eyes, and he could only make out four pale spots of someone else's faces that were also looking at him. As the taxi pulled away and drove uphill for a mile against the rushing wind, he saw the headlights of the other car following them emerge from the village.
Corcoran called Nosby softly to his attention, and Nosby nervously leaned forward and tapped on the glass partition in the saloon that separated them from the driver.
Piu presto! he commanded. — Ile siera sono tropo tarde! [9]
Corcoran translated the mangled Italian to the driver and entered into a dialogue with him. Hallie dozed off, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. She woke up about twenty minutes later - from the fact that the car stopped abruptly. The driver was looking under the bonnet by the light of a match, while Corcoran and Mr. Nosby were talking hurriedly on the road.
— What happened? - she exclaimed.
"The car broke down," Corcoran replied, "and he doesn't have the tools to fix it." The best thing for all of you now is to go on foot to Agropoli[10]. It's not far, the nearest town, about two miles.
Look! Nosby exclaimed anxiously. On a hill about a mile away, the headlights of another car appeared.
- Maybe they will give us a lift? Hallie asked.
"Let's not risk it," Corcoran replied. “One of the most dangerous bands of raiders in northern Italy is operating in this area. What can I say, we are being tracked! When I asked the driver if he knew what kind of car was following us from Eboli, he immediately bit his tongue. Afraid to speak!
While talking, he helped Halle and her mother get out of the car. And then he turned to Nosby with a determined air.
- Tell me, what did you pick up at the Naples bank?
"Ten thousand dollars in Bank of England notes," Nosby admitted in a frightened voice.
— That's what I thought. And someone from the bank ratted you out to them. Let's get some money!
— Why is that? Nosby asked. - What are you going to do with them?
"Throw away," Corcoran replied. And he shook his head nervously. In the night, they clearly heard the mournful sound of an automobile engine climbing a hill in second gear.
- Hallie! You and your mother are chauffeured. Run as fast as you can for the first hundred yards, then keep walking. If I do not appear, in Agropoli contact the carabinieri. His voice faded and became quieter. "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Goodbye!
When they left, he turned back to Nosby.
- Give us money! - he said.
- You're going to...
- I'm going to keep them here while you get Hallie out of here. Is it not clear that if they seize her here, among these hills, they will be able to demand any amount they want?
Nosby hesitated. Then he took out a thick packet of fifty-pound notes and began to pull out half a dozen of the top ones.
- Let's get everything here! Corcoran snapped. With a quick, strong movement, he snatched the package from Nosby's hands. “Now leave!”
The headlights of a car appeared less than half a mile away. With an incoherent shriek, Nosby turned and stumbled down the road.
Corcoran took a pencil out of his pocket, an envelope of some kind, and in a couple of minutes in the headlights he quickly completed everything he needed.
Then he licked his finger and raised it in the air, as if setting up some kind of experiment. The result seemed to satisfy him. He waited, ruffling large paper bills with his fingers - there were forty of them.
The headlights of the second car approached, the car slowed down and stopped twenty feet away.
With the engine running, four men got out of the car and walked towards him.
- Buona Siera! , Corcoran called out, then continued in Italian. - Our car broke down.
— Where is everyone else? one of the men asked quickly.
- They were picked up by another car. Turned around to take them to Agripoli,” Corcoran replied politely. He saw that two revolvers were pointed at him at once, but he waited another moment, listening intently to the wind in the treetops, which heralded another gust. The men came closer.
— But I have something here that you might be interested in. His heart was beating heavily, he slowly raised his hand and a bundle of banknotes became visible in the blinding headlights.
Suddenly a gust of wind came up from the valley, strong and furious; Corcoran waited another moment until he felt a cool freshness on his face. “Two hundred thousand lire in English notes!” He lifted the pack higher, as if about to give it to the one closest to him. And then, with a light, sharp movement, he released the banknotes, and the wind immediately picked them up, whirling and scattering them in forty different directions at once.
The closest person swore and rushed after the nearest flying bill. And then everyone began to fussily gallop along the road, over which the wind carried fragile fluttering banknotes - like crazy elves, they dived into the grass, jumping from side to side and stubbornly eluding hands.
The men ran from side to side, and Corcoran with them, stuffing the money they caught into their pockets, running farther and farther in a frenzy of pursuit of the elusive and alluring symbols of wealth.
Suddenly Corcoran saw an opportunity. As if noticing a random banknote flying under the car, he ducked low, ran to the car, jumped through the side door and yanked into the driver's seat.
Pushing the lever all the way into first gear, I heard a loud curse and then a sharp sound of a shot, but the unmuffled car rushed forward without any problems, and the bullet flew past.
In an instant—his teeth clenched and his muscles tensed at the sound of gunfire—he left a stalled taxi behind him and drove off into the darkness. Another shot rang out quite close, and he was shaken violently; he feared for a moment that the bullet had hit the engine somewhere, but then it became clear that the bullet had pierced the tire.
After three-quarters of a mile, Corcoran stopped, turned off the engine, and listened. Not a sound was heard; only something was dripping from the radiator onto the road.
- Hallie! he called. - Hallie!
A figure emerged from the shadows about ten feet away, then another, and another.
- Hallie! he called again.
She climbed into the front seat and wrapped her arms around it.
- You are whole! she sobbed. We heard the shots and wanted to go back.
Mr Nosby, now very calm, was standing in the road.
— I assume you no longer have any of that money? - he said.
Corcoran pulled three crumpled bills from his pocket.
“Just that,” he said. “As for the rest, you can ask them, please — they can run here at any moment.
Mr. Nosby, followed by Mrs. Bushmill and the driver, got into the car at once.
“And yet,” he emphasized shrillly, when the car started, “it cost us quite a lot! You have lost ten thousand dollars, which were intended for the purchase of goods in Sicily!
“They were English notes,” Corcoran said. And they were big. In any bank in England and Italy, they are easily identified by numbers.
— But we don't have those numbers!
— I wrote down all the numbers! Corcoran replied.
***
Rumors that Mr. Julius Bushmill sometimes cannot sleep at night because of his purchasing department are absolutely unfounded. Some argue that the expansion of the once quite conservative business is carried out with the expectation of sensation rather than reason - but they are probably just small, vicious competitors with an innate aversion to large scale.
To all unsolicited advice, Mr. Bushmill always replies that even if at first it seems that the son-in-law is throwing money away, they always come back! And he explains this by saying that the young idiot has a real talent for spending money!
Original text: A Penny Spent, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. © Anton Rudnev, 2022 a trend in student fashion in the second half of the 1920s, tight wide trousers tucked into high (ankle-length) knee socks; appeared after the ban on wearing breeches in the classroom introduced in 1924 in Oxford and quickly spread to universities.
[4] "a la Saratoga" - it is believed that chips as a dish were invented in the middle of the 19th century in a restaurant in Saratoga Springs.
[5] Bumpies - street
[6] Grotte Kerk - church
[7] Cosenza is an Italian commune in the Calabria region, the administrative center of the province.
[8] Torre Annunziata is a southern suburb of Naples on the coast of the Gulf of Naples at the foot of Vesuvius, one of the centers of the Italian Camorra.
[9] Piu presto!… Il siera sono tropo tarde! - distort. Italian, approx. “More soon! The evening is already late!
[10] Agropoli is a port on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the Campagna region. —
| Vasich 25.02.2015 20:40 1 comment | As practice shows, one has to think about what to do after death while still alive. In particular, if someone is worried about the question of what they will have to go on their last journey, then the options can be considered now: it turns out that there are quite a decent number of them and they are diverse. Let's talk about hearses. An example of a modern hearse - Queen II based on the Jaguar XJ from the Italian studio Pilato S.P.A. Original size: 1800x1200 - 626Kb Of course, hearse rental services arose with the advent of the first moving carriages: the studio for their development wanted to earn their money on the deceased or his relatives, and on the other hand, the deceased himself or his relatives, having means, they also wanted the last path to look not in a rogue way. 1900s - 1930s By the 20s of the twentieth century, a fairly large number of studios were engaged in the production of hearses, and there was also no shortage of automobile chassis for them. Absolutely beautiful unique specimens of funeral carriages were also produced, which only wealthy sections of society could afford. The backbone of companies producing hearses, such as, for example, Eureka Mfg. Co. and Sayers and Scovill. The oldest Cadillac-based hearse - 1916 Cadillac Carved-Panel Hearse by A. Cadillac Carved-Panel Hearse, A. Geissel and Sons, 1916 1919 Ford Model T Carved-Panel Hearse. What is interesting about this model is that the body itself, where the coffin was placed, was made separately in the workshop of Sayers and Scovill for horse-drawn funeral carriages, and later it was put on the chassis of the Ford Model T. Now this copy is in the collection of Mr. John Champagne, Elkton, Michigan Original size: 931x527 - 138Kb An example of a horse-drawn hearse from the pre-automobile era - Sayers and Scovill Eight Column Carved Panel Hearse (similar to the one that was put on the Ford Model T) Lorraine Twelve-Column Carved Panel Hearse 1920 with Teeter-Hartley engine. 1922 Henney Carved-Panel Hearse. Lincoln V8 M-17037, 1928 (photo by Miguel Caballero Covian) Spanish copy of the hearse on the French chassis from Latil "La Llorona" M-26637, 1928 (photo by Miguel Caballero Covian) 1940s - 1960s The only surviving 1941 Cadillac Gothic Carved-Panel Hearse by John Little. Produced in Ontario, Canada, it still remains "at home", namely in the collection of Mr. Lloyd Needham, Ontario, Canada. Argentine hearse based on 1947 Lincoln 1954 Cadillac Landau Hearse by Eureka 1958 Oldsmobile Comet Hearse 1962 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Hearse - this model became famous after the release of "Ghostbusters", in which it performed under the name ECTO-1 In the mid-sixties, surfers became fashionable for hearses. They were slightly longer and bulkier than regular station wagons and could accommodate both surfboards and surfers themselves. Apparently, there were so many people who wanted to go inside that even the boards did not fit. Or, the boards were specially attached to the outside so that everyone could see that there were living or dead surfers inside: Extremely rare (only four were made) - 1979 Bayliff Packard Hearse. This is the creation of the hands of Budd Bayliff, who founded the Bayliff Coach Corporation in the late seventies, which reworked the bodies of standard GM models in retro style. These models are often confused with Stutz cars from the mid-70s. Eureka brochure from the 80s showing the hearses production line Original size: 983x737 - 97Kb Buick Hearse 1992 - standard Buick hearse model Original size: 900x675 - 236Kb - 1992 Buick Signature Series Hearse by Eureka Coach Company - Mercedes-Benz E240 Coleman Milne Hearse is a popular 1998 model in England. Despite the fact that the chassis remains from the E240, almost the entire body was completely redone in the workshop. Original size: 1600x1050 - 164KB 2000 - 2010s MASERATI QUATTROPORTE Kapafalk 2008: Excellent choice for the trip Original MASERATITI KARETOPETITITICA inside - the coffin with the body of Polish President Lech Kaczynski Cadillac XTS coachbuilder hearse 2014 Original size: 960x510 - 308Kb CADILAC HeARSE CADILLAC HEARS with the body of the New York policeman Venjiang Liu, January 2015 Original size: 962x578 -159KB GAZ -63 Outpost at the exhibition of modern funeral culture in Moscow, 2014 Original size: 1000x666 156Kb By the way, such exhibitions do not take place very often in Russia yet. And the Museum of Funeral Culture, which is very worthy of mention, exists in a single copy in Novosibirsk ("Novosibirsk Museum of World Funeral Culture"). 
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Let's take a look at what funeral carriages have been like since the early twentieth century. 
At 189In 0, Eureka entered into a successful contract with the US government to build several hundred wagons to deliver mail to remote corners of the United States and successfully completed it, and by 1900 they became one of the five largest wagon manufacturers, producing up to 5000 chassis per year. In 1908, Eureka published a 76-page catalog that advertised moving vehicles ranging from bicycles to hearses. In 1917, Eureka produced hearses on Velie chassis, and later switched to more popular ones such as Dodge and Cadillac. Later, the company was glorified by the innovation, which consisted in the fact that the coffin could be loaded into the hearse directly from the side, and then with the help of a rotary mechanism it turned into the saloon. 
Geissel and Sons. The body panels were decorated with carvings, and the wheels were decorated with wooden spokes. Wooden panels in the center could slide open to reveal windows through which mourners could view the coffin and flowers. 
Unlike American hearses of the time, European models generally had unpainted rear windows so that the coffin could be viewed. 
