'What will I remember it by, now? Why, INTERIOR,
to be sure! I'll remember it by its being something that ain't in
the interior of a horse.' And when next I had occasion to ask him
the French for stirrup, it was a toss-up whether he had forgotten
all about it, or gave me EXTERIOR for an answer. He was never a
hair discouraged. He seemed to consider that he was covering the
ground at a normal rate. He came up smiling day after day. 'Now,
sir, shall we do our French?' he would say; and I would put
questions, and elicit copious commentary and explanation, but never
the shadow of an answer. My hands fell to my sides; I could have
wept to hear him. When I reflected that he had as yet learned
nothing, and what a vast deal more there was for him to learn, the
period of these lessons seemed to unroll before me vast as
eternity, and I saw myself a teacher of a hundred, and Rowley a
pupil of ninety, still hammering on the rudiments! The wretched
boy, I should say, was quite unspoiled by the inevitable
familiarities of the journey. He turned out at each stage the pink
of serving-lads, deft, civil, prompt, attentive, touching his hat
like an automaton, raising the status of Mr. Ramornie in the eyes
of all the inn by his smiling service, and seeming capable of
anything in the world but the one thing I had chosen--learning
French!
CHAPTER XXIII--THE ADVENTURE OF THE RUNAWAY COUPLE
The country had for some time back been changing in character.
Pages:
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302