difficult. Come on, Belle, and say siriem." Belle hesitated.
"Pray oblige me, Belle, by saying siriem!" Belle still appeared to
hesitate. "You must admit, Belle, that it is much softer than
hntam." "It is so," said Belle; "and to oblige you I will say
siriem." "Very well indeed, Belle," said I. "No vartabied, or
doctor, could have pronounced it better; and now, to show you how
verbs act upon pronouns in Armenian, I will say siriem zkiez.
Please to repeat siriem zkiez!" "Siriem zkiez!" said Belle; "that
last word is very hard to say." "Sorry that you think so, Belle,"
said I. "Now please to say siria zis." Belle did so.
"Exceedingly well," said I. "Now say, yerani the sireir zis."
"Yerani the sireir zis," said Belle. "Capital!" said I; "you have
now said, I love you--love me--ah! would that you would love me!"

"And I have said all these things?" said Belle. "Yes," said I;
"you have said them in Armenian." "I would have said them in no
language that I understood," said Belle; "and it was very wrong of
you to take advantage of my ignorance, and make me say such
things." "Why so?" said I; "if you said them, I said them too."
"You did so," said Belle; "but I believe you were merely bantering
and jeering." "As I told you before, Belle," said I, "the chief
difficulty which I find in teaching you Armenian proceeds from your
persisting in applying to yourself and me every example I give."
"Then you meant nothing after all," said Belle, raising her voice.
"Let us proceed," said I; "sirietsi, I loved." "You never loved
any one but yourself," said Belle; "and what's more--"
"Sirietsits, I will love," said I; "sirietsies, thou wilt love."
"Never one so thoroughly heartless," said Belle. "I tell you what,
Belle, you are becoming intolerable, but we will change the verb;
or rather I will now proceed to tell you here, that some of the