thanked me warmly, gave back the eight ducats I had paid for him, and
said that he would not leave the city till the next day.

"From what country," I asked him, "is your travelling companion?"

"From France, and he only speaks his native language."

"Then you speak French?"

"Not one word."

"That is amusing! Then you converse in pantomime?"

"Exactly."

"I pity you, for it is a difficult language."

"Yes, to express the various shades of thought, but in the material part
of our intercourse we understand each other quite well."

"May I invite myself to breakfast with you?"

"Ask my friend whether he has any objection."

"Amiable companion of the captain," I said in French, "will you kindly
accept me as a third guest at the breakfast-table?"

At these words I saw coming out of the bed-clothes a lovely head, with
dishevelled hair, and a blooming, laughing face which, although it was
crowned with a man's cap, left no doubt that the captain's friend