' 'But I should, though,' said Belle. 'I was
merely attempting to make you acquainted with a philological fact,' said
I. 'If mare, which in old English, and likewise in vulgar English,
signifies a woman, sounds the same as mare, which in modern and polite
English signifies a female horse, I can't help it. There is no confusion
of sounds in Armenian, not, at least, in the same instance. Belle, in
Armenian, woman is ghin, the same word, by-the-by, a sour queen, whereas
mare is madagh tzi, which signifies a female horse; and perhaps you will
permit me to add that a hard-mouthed jade is, in Armenian, madagh tzi
hsdierah.'

'I can't bear this much longer,' said Belle. 'Keep yourself quiet,' said
I; 'I wish to be gentle with you; and to convince you, we will skip
hntal, and also for the present verbs of the first conjugation, and
proceed to the second. Belle, I will now select for you to conjugate the
prettiest verb in Armenian; not only of the second, but also of all the
four conjugations; that verb is siriel. Here is the present tense:
siriem, siries, sire, siriemk, sirek, sirien. You observe that it runs
on just in the same manner as hntal, save and except that e is
substituted for a; and it will be as well to tell you that almost the
only difference between the second, third, and fourth conjugations, and
the first, is the substituting in the present, preterite, and other
tenses, e, or ou, or i for a; so you see that the Armenian verbs are by
no means 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