ety. When we had been employed for some three months
in learning Zu-Vendi, it struck Master Good that he was getting
rather tired of the old gentlemen who did us the honour to lead
us in the way that we should go, so he proceeded, without saying
a word to anybody else, to inform them that it was a peculiar
fact, but that we could not make any real progress in the deeper
intricacies of a foreign language unless we were taught by ladies
-- young ladies, he was careful to explain. In his own country,
he pointed out, it was habitual to choose the very best-looking
and most charming girls who could be found to instruct any strangers
who happened to come that way, etc.

All of this the old gentlemen swallowed open-mouthed. There
was, they admitted, reason in what he said, since the contemplation
of the beautiful, as their philosophy taught, induced a certain
porosity of mind similar to that produced upon the physical body
by the healthful influences of sun and air. Consequently it
was probable that we might absorb the Zu-Vendi tongue a little
faster if suitable teachers could be found. Another thing was
that, as the female sex was naturally loquacious, good practice
would be gained in the viva voce department of our studies.

To all of this Good gravely assented, and the learned gentlemen
departed, assuring him that their orders were to fall in with
our wishes in every way, and that, if possible, our views should
be met.

Imagine, therefore the surprise and disgust of myself, and I
trust and believe Sir Henry, when, on entering the room where
we were accustomed to carry on our studies the following morning,
we found, instead of our usual venerable tutors, three of the
best-looking young women whom Milosis could produce -- and that
is saying a good deal -- who blushed and smiled and curtseyed,
and gave us to understand that they were there to carry on our
instruction. Then Good, as we gazed at one another in bewilderment,
thought fit to explain, saying that it had slipped his memory
before -- but the old gentlemen had told him, on the previous
evening, that it was absolutely necessary that our further education
should be carried on by the other sex. I was overwhelmed, and
appealed to Sir Henry for advice in such a crisis.

'Well,' he said, 'you see the ladies are here, ain't they? If
we sent them away, don't you think it might hurt their feelings,
eh? One doesn't like to be rough, you see; and they look regular