“No.”
“I shall get you a teacher at once, and wish you to go about the city also—indeed I shall arrange to have you go with him, in order that you may learn to speak French as soon as possible.”
“I should be glad to speak French. I will study hard.”
“That is well. That will gratify me.”
Of course Mrs. Harcourt’s chief idea was to enable Ben, should he ever meet Basil, to hold a conversation with him in French, so that there should be no suspicion that Ben was not what she represented him.
Ben thoroughly enjoyed his winter in Paris. He seemed to have a special taste for languages, for he picked up French with remarkable rapidity, and made some progress in German.
“Your son is one marvel, Madam Harcourt,” said Professor Fromont, Ben’s instructor. “I nevaire have had a pupil more quick.”
“He speaks French a great deal better than I do, professor.”
“That is not strange, madam. Young pupils always learn much faster than their elders.”
“And I, being an old woman, can hardly expect to keep up with my boy.”