Be—Show two upper middle teeth.
Bi—Broad smile.
Bu—Whistle.
Bon—Pout.
It was an excellent method, though we all found difficulty in showing only two upper middle teeth.
There were also syllables which called for hollow cheeks, and I remember Tish’s irritation at my failure.
“If you would eat less whipped cream, Lizzie,” she said scathingly, “you might learn the French language. Otherwise you might as well give it up.”
“I dare say there are plump people among the French,” I retorted. “And I never heard that a Frenchwoman who put on twenty pounds or so went dumb. That woman who trims your hats isn’t dumb so you could notice it. I’d thank my stars if she was. She can say forty dollars fast enough, and she doesn’t suck in her cheeks either!”
In the end Aggie and I gave up the French lessons, but Tish kept them up. She learned ten nouns a day, and she made an attempt at verbs, but gave it up.
“I can secure anything I want, if I ever visit our valiant Ally,” she said, “by naming it in the French and then making the appropriate gesture.”