--

'Ash, when green,
Is fire for a queen.'"

"And on fairer form of queen, ash fire never shone," said I, "than on
thine, O beauteous queen of the dingle."

"I am half disposed to be angry with you, young man," said Belle.

"And why not entirely?" said I.

Belle made no reply.

"Shall I tell you?" I demanded. "You had no objection to the first part
of the speech, but you did not like being called queen of the dingle.
Well, if I had the power, I would make you queen of something better than
the dingle--Queen of China. Come, let us have tea."

"Something less would content me," said Belle, sighing, as she rose to
prepare our evening meal.

So we took tea together, Belle and I. "How delicious tea is after a hot
summer's day, and a long walk," said she.

"I dare say it is most refreshing then," said I; "but I have heard people
say that they most enjoy it on a cold winter's night, when the kettle is
hissing on the fire, and their children playing on the hearth."

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?