"I know you haven't! But you've missed a great deal, Robin!--you have
really! When I made up my mind to find out all the Sieur Amadis had
written, I got Priscilla to buy me a French dictionary and grammar and
some other French lesson-books besides--then I spelt all the words
carefully and looked them all up in the dictionary, and learned the
pronunciation from one of the lesson-books--and by-and-bye it got quite
easy. For two years at least it was dreadfully hard work--but
now--well!--I think I could almost speak French if I had the chance!"
"I'm sure you could!" said Robin, looking at her, admiringly--"You're a
clever little girl and could do anything you wanted to."
Her brows contracted a little,--the easy lightness of his compliment
had that air of masculine indifference which is more provoking to an
intelligent woman than downright contradiction. The smile lingered in
her eyes, however,--a smile of mingled amusement and compassion.
"Well, I wanted to understand the writing of the Sieur Amadis," she
went on, quietly--"and when I could understand them I translated them.
So I can tell you the last words he wrote in his journal--just before
he married,--in fact on the very eve of his marriage-day--" She paused
abruptly, and looked for a moment at the worn and battered tomb of the
old knight, green with moss and made picturesque by a trailing branch
of wild roses that had thrown itself across the stone effigy in an
attempt to reach some of its neighbours on the opposite side. Robin
followed her gaze with his own, and for a moment was more than usually
impressed by the calm, almost stern dignity of the recumbent figure.
"Go on," he said--"What were the words?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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