“And do they talk as we do?”
“O no! I know nothing of their language; but I have heard that it is quite different from all others, and so difficult that none but the
cleverest people amongst foreigners can master it, on which account, perhaps, only the French pretend to know anything about it.”
“Are the French so very clever, then?” said Belle.
“They say there are no people like them, at least in Europe. But talking of Chinese reminds me that I have not for some time past given you a lesson in Armenian. The word for tea in Armenian is—by-the-bye, what is the Armenian word for tea?”
“That’s your affair, not mine,” said Belle; “it seems hard that the master should ask the scholar.”
“Well,” said I, “whatever the word may be in Armenian, it is a noun; and as we have never yet declined an Armenian noun together, we may as well take this opportunity of declining one. Belle, there are ten declensions in Armenian!”
“What’s a declension?”
“The way of declining a noun.”
“Then, in the civilest way imaginable, I decline the noun. Is that a declension?”