"Well, what of it?" retorted the Unwiseman. "The Umpire wouldn't know that, and besides she would prefer cats if I had one. You should not interrupt conversation when other people are talking, Whistlebinkie, especially when it's polite conversation."
"Orright-I-pol-gize," whistled Whistlebinkie. "Go on with the rest of it."
"I was then going to say:" continued the Unwiseman,
| "'Will you go out this afternoon?' |
| 'I should like to go out this afternoon.' |
| 'Should you remain here if your mother were here?' |
| 'Yes I should remain here even if my aunt were here.' |
| 'Had you remained here I should not have gone out.' |
| 'I shall have finished when you come.' |
| 'As soon as you have received your money come to see me.' |
| 'I do not know yet whether we shall leave tomorrow.' |
| 'I should have been afraid had you not been with me.' |
| 'So long.' |
| 'To the river.'" |
"To the river?" asked Whistlebinkie. "What does that mean?"
"It is French for, 'I hope we shall meet again.' Au river is the polite way of saying, 'good-bye for a little while.' And to think that after having sat up until five o'clock this morning learning all that by heart I should find that the man I was going to say it to has been dead for—how many years, Mollie?"
"Oh nearly a hundred years," said the little girl.
"No wonder it wasn't in the papers before I left home," said the Unwiseman. "Oh well, never mind——."
"Perhaps you can swing that talk around so as to fit some French Robert," suggested Whistlebinkie.