Meeting at length with a respectable elderly gentleman, Mr. P. inquired of him the way to the Cave of the Winds. "The Cave of the Winds? Ah!" said this worthy person. "You turn to your left here, sir--ah! and then you keep on for about--ah! half a mile, and you will--ah! see a gate--ah! Behind that is a man and the cave--ah!" Mr. P. thanked him and was proceeding on his way, when the worthy citizen touched him on the arm, saying: "Twenty-one dollars, if you please, sir." "Twenty-one dev----developments!" cried Mr. P; "Why, what do you mean?" "Information, sir; fifty cents a word; forty-two words; twenty-one dollars." It must not be supposed that Mr. P. submitted tamely to this outrage, but after a long dispute, it was agreed to refer the matter to the arbitration of three of the principal citizens. They promptly decided that the charge was just and must be paid, but, owing to Mr. P.'s earnest protestations, they agreed to throw out the "ahs," as being of doubtful value as information. The sum thus saved to Mr. P. exactly paid for drinks for the party. Mr. P. now very sensibly concluded that it was about time to leave, if his editors, his printers, and the employés in his pun-factory were to expect any pay that week, and so he set out for home in the evening, taking a shortcut by the way of Montreal. He thought that a day might be very profitably spent here, especially if he could fall in with any of the French-Canadians, of whose peculiarities he had heard so much. The study of human nature was always Mr. P.'s particular forte. On the morning of his arrival, Mr. P. met, in the dining-room of the hotel, a gentleman who was unmistakably a Frenchman, and being in Canada, was probably Canadian. As they were sitting together at the table, Mr. P., having mentally rubbed up his knowledge of the French language, addressed his companion thus: "_Avez-vous le chapeau de mon frere?_" The gentleman thus politely addressed, bowed, smiled, and after a little hesitation answered: "_Non, Monsieur; mais jài le fromage de votre soeur._" "_Eh bien_" said Mr. P., as he scratched his head for a moment. "_Otez vous vos souliers et vos bas?_" The other answered promptly, "_Je n'ote ni les uns ni les autres._" "_Votre père,_" remarked Mr. P., "_a-t-il la chandelle de votre oncle?_" His companion remained silent for a minute or two, and then he said: "I forget the French of the answer to that, but I know the English of it; it is 'no, sir, but he has the apples-of-the-ground-of-sugar of my mother-in-law.'" When Mr. P. discovered, after a little conversation in the vernacular, that his companion was a New York dry-goods clerk, he gave up the study of the French-Canadian character and went on with his breakfast.