"Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen," he began cheerfully, "in response to your most flattering encore I shall have great pleasure, with your attention and permission, in givin’ you my celebrated imitation"--here he began to stiffen into the old familiar epileptic attitude--"of Sir George Irving--" We drew him down, as gently as possible, into his seat, and the secretary, slightly disconcerted, called upon the lecturer to begin. The professor rose, and having bowed gallantly to the secretary’s wife, the only lady present,--a courtesy which was acknowledged by that young woman, with true British politeness, by a convulsive giggle,--proceeded, in language which betrayed the fact that although he might be able to teach French he could not pronounce English, to explain his _modus operandi_. He proposed, we discovered, to describe in his own tongue some familiar scene of everyday life, suiting his action to the word, and laying his hand, whenever possible, upon the objects mentioned in his discourse, in order to assist us in grasping his meaning. "_Par exemple_," he explained, "if I touch ze ’at of madam, so"--here he darted across the room and laid a playful finger on the brim of Mrs. Secretary’s rather flamboyant headgear, a familiarity which that paragon of British propriety greeted with an hysterical "Ow, George!"--"and say _chapeau_, den you vill onnerstand vat I mean." "I doubt it, old son," observed Mr. Duckworth gravely. "To-night," continued the professor, who had fortunately been unable to understand this innuendo, "I vill describe a simple scene zat you all know--_n’est-ce pas_?" Here he struck an attitude, as if to imply that they must be careful not to miss this bit, and declaimed:-- "_Ze postman, ’ow ’e brings ze letters._" This announcement was greeted with a stony silence. "I tell you ze title," he added in warning tones, "but after now I spik no more Engleesh." "Quite right; I would n’t if I were you," remarked Mr. Duckworth approvingly. The professor bowed politely at this commendation from such an exalted quarter, and plunged into his subject. "_Le facteur, comment il apporte les lettres!_" The audience, composed exclusively of podgy young men like the secretary, received this exordium with different degrees of self-consciousness, after the manner of the Englishman when a foreign language is spoken in his presence. Some looked extremely knowing, while others stirred uneasily in their seats, and regarded each other with shamefaced grins. The professor meanwhile had advanced to the window, and was gazing excitedly out into the darkness.