"'And you feel dis fauteuil, really ver' com-for-ta-ble?' pursued the little woman, with augmented energy of voice. Another nod was just discernable.
"No intonation of mine can do justice to the very ecstasy of impatience with which the pertinacious questioner now actually screamed out:
"'Bien, madame, vil you say so, if you please!'"
I meant to repeat an impressive little story told us by my lovely friend, Mrs. V——, before our merry little party separated that night; but, even were this letter not already too "long drawn out," I find my head in very much the condition of that of the old Yankee woman, whom, I trust, I have immortalized, and will, therefore, reserve it for another time, hoping that you will pay me the compliment to recollect my description of my dramatis personæ until then.
Meanwhile, here is one other anecdote for you:
During my usual morning ride, one day lately, I stopped to breathe my horse on the top of a little hill, in the suburbs of one of the villages upon the banks of the Hudson. While enjoying the beauty of the fine landscape before me, my horse, all on a sudden, started violently. I presently discovered the cause of his fright. Some little rascals were at play in the unenclosed yard of an old building near, and one of them was throwing lumps of earth, pieces of broken crockery, rusty sheet-iron, etc., upon the plank-walk in front. As I turned my head towards them, a little urchin who was perched upon a knob of the root of a tree, with his hands upon his knees, cried out, energetically: "There now, look-a there! Ain't you a pretty fellow? dirtying up the walk so, when people are going by." His little freckled face expressed real concern, as he looked fixedly up the walk. Glancing in the same direction, I saw an elegantly-dressed lady carefully gathering up her dress, preparatory to encountering the sharp obstacles in her path, and at once understood the cause of the reproof I had overheard, and which I assure you, I have transcribed verbatim, though the phrase "pretty fellow" may seem incongruous in the mouth of a dirty little Irish boy. I only hope the lady—whose gentle smile indicated that she too understood the scene—was compensated for being so incommoded, by discerning the inbred politeness of her little champion.