"You spoke French, von littel, sare?" asked the clerk, who could himself speak a very little imperfect English.
"We," cried Mr. Dundyke, eagerly, not choosing to betray his ignorance.
Accordingly, the official proceeded to jabber on in French, and Mr. Dundyke answered at intervals of hazard "we" and "no."
"Vous désirez aller à Grenoble, n'est-ce pas, monsieur?" remarked the clerk.
"We," cried out Mr. Dundyke at random.
"Combien de places, monsieur?"
"We," repeated the gentleman again.
"I do demande of the monsieur how few of place?" said the official, suspecting his French was not understood quite so well as it might be.
"Two places for Switzerland," answered Mr. Dundyke. "I'm going on to Geneva, in a diligence like that."