The young man nodded intelligently. The advice was good.
“ Lentement,” he said. “Parlez lentement. Pas si—you know what I mean—pas si dashed vite!”
“ Ah-a-ah!” cried Jules, catching the idea on the fly. “Lentement. Ah, oui, lentement.”
There followed a lengthy conversation which, while conveying nothing to Sally, seemed intelligible to the red-haired linguist.
“ The silly a*s,” he was able to announce some few minutes later, “has made a bloomer. Apparently he was half asleep when we came in, and he shoved us into the lift and slammed the door, forgetting that he had left the keys on the desk.”
“ I see,” said Sally. “So we're shut in?”
“ I'm afraid so. I wish to goodness,” said the young man, “I knew French well. I'd curse him with some vim and not a little animation, the ch
