“German?” inquired the stranger.
“Yes, sir,” said Eric.
“And English?”
“Yes, sir; I am an American.”
“I am a Frenchman,” said Mr. Lacelle. “I want you, if you please, to do me a little service.”
“I will do anything that I can for you,” said Eric. “I am very much obliged to you already for being so good-natured about your glasses.”
“Do not mention it!” Mr. Lacelle exclaimed, with the natural politeness of a Frenchman. “I have taken quite a fancy to your playful little beast.” And he coaxed the monkey to him, and gently stroked her soft hair.
“What is it that I can do for you, sir?” asked Eric. He was beginning to like Mr. Lacelle very much.
“I have a letter to write to America, and am not enough of an English scholar to undertake it. Now, therefore, if I tell to you that which I want written, would you be so very kind, if you please, as to write for me, it?”
“Yes, indeed; with much pleasure,” said Eric; thinking the while, “No wonder he does not like to undertake a letter in English, when he speaks the language so clumsily.”