He never wearies of showing you goods; your atrocious French is laboriously translated, and if you buy a franc's worth Monsieur seems as much delighted as though you had beggared yourself by taking his whole stock. And if you have taken an hour of his time and purchased nothing, he seems to be even more pleased. Indeed, his politeness on occasions that to an English or American tradesman would be depressing, is even more marked. He bows and smiles, not grimaces, as has been vainly written, but a most gracious bow and a most delightful smile, which, if not genuine, is a most natural substitute for it, and he modestly hopes that if Monsieur or Madame desires anything in his line that they will give him the preference. Possibly he says "_sacre_" to himself after you are on the sidewalk, and possibly he launches all sorts of curses after you, but you don't know it, and so it doesn't hurt you. Go back within five minutes and you will find him with the same smile, ready and willing to go through the same operation over again. Tibbitts tried to worry one of them, and for once succeeded. He stopped the party promenading with him on the Boulevard des Italiens, at a jeweler's, who displayed in his window the legend, "English spoken." The "English spoken" in the shops is good enough, as a rule, to explain the nature and quality of the goods, and that is all. Further than this, the English-speaking salesman has no more idea of English than he has of Ashantee. Tibbitts marched in boldly, and the English-speaking man appeared. He was a very well-preserved, bald-headed man of fifty, and at him Tibbitts went. "Do you speak English?" "Oui--yees, Monsieur." Tibbitts grasped his hand enthusiastically. "It's refreshing to meet one in a strange land who can speak one's own language." "Yees, Monsieur." "Well, what I want to know is, is the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad cutting rates the same as the other roads, and do they cut for Western-bound passengers the same as for Eastern, and have you the remotest idea that the cutting will be kept up till September when I return, and does the Pullman Sleeping Car Company cut the same as the railroad companies?" "Eh, Monsieur? Zeese watches--" "You don't quite understand me. You see the Pullman Sleeping Car Company is quite distinct from the railroad companies, and one may cut rates without the other. See? Now what I want to know is--" The bewildered Frenchman who spoke English stared in a wild sort of way, but his politeness did not desert him. "Ees eet ze watch, ze diamond, ze--" "Not yet. What I want to know is, who is this Lapham and Miller who have been elected to fill the vacancies occasioned by the resignations of Platt and Conkling, and is Miller going to be a tail to Lapham's kite, or are they both square, bang-up men, and--" "Will Monsieur look at ze goods?" "No, no! Is the Chicago & Northwestern in this row?" By this time the Frenchman was out of patience.