‘Then, in the civilest way imaginable, I decline the noun. Is that a declension?’

‘You should never play on words; to do so is low, vulgar, smelling of the pothouse, the workhouse. Belle, I insist on your declining an Armenian noun.’

‘I have done so already,’ said Belle.

‘If you go on in this way,’ said I, ‘I shall decline taking any more tea with you. Will you decline an Armenian noun?’

‘I don’t like the language,’ said Belle. ‘If you must teach me languages, why not teach me French or Chinese?’

‘I know nothing of Chinese; and as for French, none but a Frenchman is clever enough to speak it - to say nothing of teaching; no, we will stick to Armenian, unless, indeed, you would prefer Welsh!’

‘Welsh, I have heard, is vulgar,’ said Belle; ‘so, if I must learn one of the two, I will prefer Armenian, which I never heard of till you mentioned it to me; though, of the two, I really think Welsh sounds best.’

‘The Armenian noun,’ said I, ‘which I propose for your declension this night, is -, which signifieth Master.’

‘I neither like the word nor the sound,’ said Belle.

‘I can’t help that,’ said I; ‘it is the word I choose: Master, with all its variations, being the first noun the sound of which I would have you learn from my lips. Come, let us begin -

‘A master. Of a master, etc. Repeat - ‘

‘I am not much used to say the word,’ said Belle, ‘but to oblige you I will decline it as you wish’; and thereupon Belle declined Master in Armenian.

‘You have declined the noun very well,’ said I; ‘that is in the singular number; we will now go to the plural.’

‘What is the plural?’ said Belle.

‘That which implies more than one, for example, Masters; you shall now go through masters in Armenian.’

‘Never,’ said Belle, ‘never; it is bad to have one master, but more I would never bear, whether in Armenian or English.’

‘You do not understand,’ said I; ‘I merely want you to decline Masters in Armenian.’

‘I do decline them; I will have nothing to do with them, nor with master either; I was wrong to - What sound is that?’

‘I did not hear it, but I daresay it is thunder; in Armenian - ‘

‘Never mind what it is in Armenian; but why do you think it is thunder?’

‘Ere I returned from my stroll, I looked up into the heavens, and by their appearance I judged that a storm was nigh at hand.’

‘And why did you not tell me so?’

‘You never asked me about the state of the atmosphere, and I am not in the habit of giving my opinion to people on any subject, unless questioned. But, setting that aside, can you blame me for not troubling