"Well, I don't know them all!" said Rhoda, with an assumption of humility; "but now-o'-days, when you speak of any one's direction, you must say _adresse_, from the French; and if one is out of spirits, you say he is _hipped_--that's from hypochondriacal; and a crowd of people is a _mob_--that's short for mobile; and when a man goes about, and doesn't want to be known, you say he is _incog._--that means incognito, which is the Spanish for unknown. Then you say Mr Such-an-one spends _to the tune of five_ hundred a year; and there are a lot of men _of his kidney_; and _I bantered them_ well about it. Oh, there are lots of new words, Mrs Dolly." "So it seems, my dear. But are you sure incognito is Spanish?" "Oh, yes! William Knight told me so," said Rhoda, with another toss of her head. "I imagined it was Latin," observed Mrs Dorothy. "But 'tis true, I know nought of either tongue." "Oh, William Knight knows everything," said Rhoda, hyperbolically. "He must be a very ingenious young man," quietly observed Mrs Dorothy. "Well, he is," said Rhoda, scarcely perceiving the satire latent in Mrs Dorothy's calm tones. "I am glad to hear it, my dear," returned the old lady. "But he's very uppish,--that's pos.," resumed the young one. "Really, my dear, you are full of new words," said Mrs Dorothy, good-naturedly. "What means `pos.,' pray you?" "Why, `positive,'" said Rhoda, laughing. "And _rep._ means reputation, and _fire_ means spirit, and _smart_ means sharp, and a _concert_ means a lot of people singing and playing on instruments of music, and an _operation_ means anything you do, and a _speculation_ means--well, it means--it means a speculation, you know." "Dear, dear!" cried little Mrs Dorothy, holding up her hands. "I protest, my dear, I shall be drove to learn the English tongue anew if this mode go on." "Well, Mrs Dolly, suppose your tale should go on?" suggested Rhoda. "Heyday! do you know what everybody is saying?--everybody that is anybody, you understand." "I thought that everybody was somebody," remarked Mrs Dorothy, with a comical set of the lips. "Oh dear, no!" said Rhoda. "There are ever so many people who are nobody." "Indeed!" said Mrs Dorothy. "Well, child, what is everybody saying?" "Why, they say the Duke is not so well with the Queen as he has been. 'Tis thought, I assure you, by many above people." "Is that one of the new words?" inquired Mrs Dorothy, with a little laugh. "Dear child, what mean you?--the angels?" "Oh, Mrs Dorothy, you are the oddest creature!" cried Rhoda. "Why, you know very well what I mean. Should you be sorry, Mrs Dolly, if the Duke became inconsiderable?" "No, my dear. Why should I?" "Well, I thought--" but Rhoda's thought went no further. "You thought," quietly continued the old lady, "that I had not had enow of town vanities, and would fain climb a few rungs up the ladder, holding on to folks' skirts. Was that it, child?"