"Sorry," he said as he picked himself up, and he proceeded to open the opposite window. Madame Beaupaire looked daggers at him, and she rubbed the foot on which he had fallen. Charley suddenly uttered a cry of pain. In attempting to open the second window, the frame had slipped and jammed his finger. "Confound these carriages," said Charley, "why can't someone invent a fool-proof window which will be provided with a strap that will not come off, and that can be opened without reducing one's fingers to pulp?" Violette laughed at the wry face he made. Charley turned round, and seeing her good-looking face lit up with merriment, laughed in concert. "Well, that's a funny way to introduce yourself," said Violette in good English, but with rather a pretty foreign accent. Violette evidently had the gift of humour, and Charley fell in with it at once. "I hope Mademoiselle does not mind the window being open," he said. "Not in the least as far as I am concerned," she replied. "I only hope papa and mamma will not catch cold." "Oh, there's no fear of that. May I ask if you are going to Monte Carlo to play?" "We are going there, certainly, but I don't think we are going to play at the Casino, if that's what you mean." "Well, we are going there, and you bet we are going to have a shy at the tables." Violette wondered what the expression could mean. "How do you shy at the tables?" she asked. "Surely you know what 'shy' means?" he said. "Of course I do," she replied, nettled to think he imagined she didn't know English. "I know," she continued, "a girl is shy when she hangs down her head and blushes and simpers when a gentleman speaks to her, but I cannot see how one can shy at the tables at Monte Carlo--unless the crowd is so great that it makes one nervous," she added reflectively. "Oh," said Charley, who was warming up and becoming very communicative, "shy is one of our wonderful English words, like 'box,' and 'shot' and 'go' and 'make.' They may mean anything and everything." "But, monsieur, how is one to know what a word means if it may imply anything and everything?" "That's the beauty of our language. It's a perfect joy. It's so tremendously expressive. If you can't get at the meaning by the context you have to guess it by the tone of the voice, as one does when speaking Chinese. Thus, if you were to say to me '_You're_ a nice young man,' it would mean that I was _not_ a nice young man. Whereas if you were to say 'you _are_ a nice young man' you imply the exact opposite, namely that I _am_ nice." "Are you fishing for compliments?" asked Violette, laughing. "Not exactly, but I feel sure you will say that my last illustration was correct in every respect." "Oh, you men, you are as vain as peacocks, you think that every girl you meet must at once fall over head and ears in love with you." "And is not that a very delightful frame of mind to be in?" asked Charley, wondering what she would say next.