"I speag those mos' bes' Angleesh ad Japan!"
"I'll say you do," agreed Monty with enthusiasm.
"Gosh!" said Jinx sadly. "She's the cutest kid I've ever seen."
"How old are you?" Jerry put the question gently, touched, despite the merriment her words had occasioned, by something forlorn in the little figure on the mat before them, so evidently anxious to please them.
"How ole?" Her expressive face showed evidence of deep regret at having to admit the humiliating fact that her years numbered but fourteen and ten months. She was careful to add the ten months to the sum of her years.
"And what's your name?"
"I are got two names."
"We all have that—Christian and surname we call 'em. What's yours?"
"I are got Angleesh name—Fleese. You know those name?" she inquired anxiously. "Thas Angleesh name."
"Fleese! Fleese!" Not one of them but wanted to assure her that "Fleese" was a well known name in the English tongue, but even Professor Barrowes, an authority on the roots of all names, found "Fleese" a new one. She was evidently disappointed, and said in a slightly depressed voice: