itizens. They promptly decided
that the charge was just and must be paid, but, owing to Mr. P.'s
earnest protestations, they agreed to throw out the "ahs," as being of
doubtful value as information. The sum thus saved to Mr. P. exactly paid
for drinks for the party.

Mr. P. now very sensibly concluded that it was about time to leave, if
his editors, his printers, and the employes in his pun-factory were to
expect any pay that week, and so he set out for home in the evening,
taking a shortcut by the way of Montreal.

He thought that a day might be very profitably spent here, especially if
he could fall in with any of the French-Canadians, of whose
peculiarities he had heard so much. The study of human nature was always
Mr. P.'s particular forte.

On the morning of his arrival, Mr. P. met, in the dining-room of the
hotel, a gentleman who was unmistakably a Frenchman, and being in
Canada, was probably Canadian. As they were sitting together at the
table, Mr. P., having mentally rubbed up his knowledge of the French
language, addressed his companion thus:

"_Avez-vous le chapeau de mon frere?_"

The gentleman thus politely addressed, bowed, smiled, and after a little
hesitation answered:

"_Non, Monsieur; mais jai le fromage de votre soeur._"

"_Eh bien_" said Mr. P., as he scratched his head for a moment. "_Otez
vous vos souliers et vos bas?_"

The other answered promptly, "_Je n'ote ni les uns ni les autres._"

"_Votre pere,_" remarked Mr. P., "_a-t-il la chandelle de votre oncle?_"

His companion remained silent for a minute or two, and then he said:

"I forget the French of the answer to that, but I know the English of
it; it is 'no, sir, but he has the apples-of-the-ground-of-sugar of my
mother-in-law.'"

When Mr. P. discovered, after a little conversation in the vernacular,
that his companion was a New York dry-goods clerk, he gave up the study
of the French-Canadian character and went on with his breakfast.

When he went out into the streets to see the lions of the city he was
delighted to meet with some old friends. In company with them he visited
the Government House; the Cathedral; the Statue of NELSON; the VICTORIA
bridge; and everything else of interest in the place. But nothing was so
delightful to him as the faces of these old friends, from whom he had
been separated so long.

* * * * *

[Illustration: When, at last, they left him, he returned sadly to New
York