"You speak English?"
"My mother was English, and I can speak in conversation, and I understand, but...."
"There are no 'buts'; you know or you do not know."
"I don't know the words used in various trades, because they use words that I have never heard, and I don't know the meaning of them," said Perrine.
"You see, Benoist," said M. Paindavoine quickly; "what this little girl says is so; that shows she is not stupid."
"She looks anything but that," answered Benoist.
"Well, perhaps we shall be able to manage somehow," said M. Vulfran. He got up, and placing one arm on the manager, he leaned on his cane with the other.
"Follow us, little girl," he said.
Perrine usually had her eyes about her and noticed everything that happened, but she took no heed where she was going. As she followed in her grandfather's footsteps, she was plunged in thought. What would be the result of this interview with the English mechanics?
They came to a big red brick building. Here she saw Mombleux walking back and forth, evidently in a bad humor, and it seemed to her that he threw her anything but a friendly look.