think sometimes that I should understand better if
French or German were spoken instead, — ^it is so mis-
leading to hear familiar words and terms with totally
different meanings attached. But all the same why
did that woman to whose house we went on Tuesday,
— Pennypacker? Was that it? American names are
many of them so queer that I can*t keep them in my
head, — why did she speak French to me and make her
daughters do the same, I wonder? I have a fair
knowledge of French, and answered a question or two;
but, seeing they were for keeping it up, I said to her,
as politely as possible, * My dear madam, you are an
American and I am an Englishman. Why in heaven's
name should we play the fool like this T Yet she was
offended. I saw that."

" She took you for a Frenchman, and so she began
with her * Parlez-vous, Out monsieur, Bon soir, An revoirJ "
(Mr. Eamsay made a rhyme of this, with his " mushew,'^
and, like his companion, spoke with an aggravated '^ qua-
tre ving-sang accent" that put him above suspicion, if,
as has been said, no Englishman who speaks French
without an accent is to be trusted. He laughed, too,
and exhibited the finest teeth, if not wit, imaginable.)

"Take me for a Frenchman! Stuff! Impossible!
If there is a thing that I thank my God for, it is that
I am not a Frenchman ; and no one in his senses could
mistake me for one," said Sir Eobert.
