“Bon,” she said crisply. “Alors, une bouteille du Vouvray pour commencer—does that go for the rest of you, mes enfants?” she said, looking around her. They nodded their agreement.
“Bon—bon, madame,” the waiter said, nodding his vigorous approval, as he put the order down. “Vous serez bien content avec le Vouvray—et puis?”—He looked at her with suave respectful inquiry. “Pour manger?”
“Pour moi,” said Elinor, “le poisson—le filet de sole—n’est-ce pas—Marguery?”
“Bon, bon,” he said with enthusiastic approval, writing it down. “Un filet de sole—Marguery—pour madame—et pour monsieur?” he said turning suavely to Eugene.
“La même chose,” said that linguist recklessly and even as the waiter was nodding enthusiastically, and saying:
“Bon. Bon—parfaitement! La même chose pour monsieur,” and writing it down, the others had begun to laugh at him. Starwick with his bubbling laugh, Elinor with her gay little smile of raillery and even Ann, the dark and sullen beauty of her face suddenly luminous with a short and almost angry laugh as she said:
“He hasn’t said his other word yet—why don’t you tell him that you want some’mawndiawnts’”—ironically she imitated his pronunciation of the word.
“What’s wrong with’mendiants’?” he said, scowling at her. “What’s the joke?”
“Nothing,” said Starwick, bubbling with laughter. “They’re very good. They really are, you know,” he said earnestly. “Only we’ve been wondering if you wouldn’t learn another word some day and order something else.”
“I know lots of other words,” he said angrily. “Only, how am I ever going to get a chance to use them when the rest of you make fun of me every time I open my mouth?—I don’t see what the great joke is,” he said resentfully. “These French people understand what I want to say,” he said. “Ecoute, garçon,” he said appealingly to the attentive and smiling waiter.—“Vous pouvez comprendre—”
“Cawmprawndre,” said Ann mockingly.
“Vous pouvez comprendre—ce-que-je-veux-dire,” he blundered on painfully.
“Mais oui, monsieur!” the waiter cried with a beautiful reassuring smile. “Parfaitement. Vous parlez très bien. Vous êtes ici à Paris depuis longtemps?”
