Page:Tag (1909).djvu/19

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TAG; OR, THE CHIEN BOULE DOG


of the baggage car was called “Cairlo.” As his shyness wore off he remembered his scanty English and a wild three-cornered conversation ensued. Pat would ponderously give vent to a sentence in French as she is spoke in the schools, to be met by a disconcerting stare from Bateese, upon which Patty would translate in a mixture of French in one lesson and habitant English gleaned during a summer holiday in a Quebec village. This was usually the more intelligible of the two, and Bateese would reply in a cheerful jargon of his own,—thus, from Pat:

“Parley vous Francaise ou Anglaise d’en l’ institution ou avez vous le—le silence?”

A wide stare from Bateese.

“He has le—le silence,” mocked Patty, then, coaxingly, “Bateese, you spik Angleesh some tam or you parley vous Francais toujour?”

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