Belle sighed.  ‘Where does tea come from?’ she presently demanded.

‘From China,’ said I; ’I just now mentioned it, and the mention of it put me in mind of tea.’

‘What kind of country is China?’

’I know very little about it; all I know is, that it is a very large country far to the East, but scarcely large enough to contain its inhabitants, who are so numerous, that though China does not cover one-ninth part of the world, its inhabitants amount to one-third of the population of the world.’

‘And do they talk as we do?’

’Oh no!  I know nothing of their language; but I have heard that it is quite different from all others, and so difficult that none but the cleverest people amongst foreigners can master it, on which account, perhaps, only the French pretend to know anything about it.’

‘Are the French so very clever, then?’ said Belle.

’They say there are no people like them, at least in Europe.  But talking of Chinese reminds me that I have not for some time past given you a lesson in Armenian.  The word for tea in Armenian is—­by the bye what is the Armenian word for tea?’

‘That’s your affair, not mine,’ said Belle; ’it seems hard that the master should ask the scholar.’

‘Well,’ said I, ’whatever the word may be in Armenian, it is a noun; and as we have never yet declined an Armenian noun together, we may as well take this opportunity of declining one.  Belle, there are ten declensions in Armenian!

‘What’s a declension?’

‘The way of declining a noun.’

’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—­