Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/219

XII] "I'm sure he didn't mean it!" Sylvie said earnestly. "It's something Frenchyou know he ca'n't talk English so well as"

Bruno relented visibly. "Course he knows no better, if he's Flench! Flenchmen never can speak English so goodly as us!" And Sylvie led him away, a willing captive.

"Nice children!" said the old man, taking off his spectacles and rubbing them carefully. Then he put them on again, and watched with an approving smile, while the children tossed over the heap of music, and we just caught Sylvie's reproving words, "We're not making hay, Bruno!" "This has been a long interruption to our conversation," I said. "Pray let us go on!"

"Willingly!" replied the gentle old man. "I was much Interested in what you" He paused a moment, and passed his hand uneasily across his brow. "One forgets," he murmured. "What was I saying? Oh! Something you were to tell me. Yes. Which of your teachers do you value the most highly, those whose words are easily understood, or those who puzzle you at every turn?"