It stopped somewhere, and out of the window he saw some buildings which interested him.
"Can you tell me what those are ?" he asked an Englishman, a stranger, who sat in the other corner of the compartment.
"Better ask the guard," said the Englishman.
Since that brief dialogue, this American does not think well of the English.
Now, two interpretations of the Englishman's answer are possible.

One is, that he didn't himself know, and said so in his English way.

English talk is often very short, much shorter than ours.

That is because they all understand each other, are much closer knit than we are.

Behind them are generations of "doing it" in the same established way, a way that their long experience of life has hammered out for their own convenience, and which they like.