Читать книгу Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters - Daniel Stashower, Исмаил Шихлы - Страница 90

What jolly letters Tottie writes, but like her lovely brother she is rather forgetting her orthography. I return the letter of the promising pupil, she seems a very nice little girl, but I think there is a tinge of selfishness about the other; don’t you think so? The first personal pronoun predominates too much in it, though, no doubt, that is natural in one so young.

The German gets on very well; when I speak fast I naturally have adjectives in the feminine before neuter nouns, and all that sort of thing, but I can always easily be understood, and I have attained so much volubility that twice a week, when we have our walks, I can keep up an unbroken conversation for three hours with two Germans; for in a walk we go in ranks three abreast, and an Englishman must always escort two Germans. I generally entertain my couple with descriptions of Captain Webb’s feat or the ‘Devastation’ turret ship, or the Channel fleet, or London or Stonyhurst, or fifty other things. I have just finished a history of Europe since 1789 (800 pages) in German, there are such funny mistakes in it, just such mistakes as one could imagine a conscientious thick headed, old German making. The old fellow was very much perplexed by the English name Hyde Parker, and split the poor man into two, remarking complacently that Admiral Hyde, Admiral Nelson, and Admiral Parker were at the battle of the Baltic. There are several other funny mistakes. I am reading the life of Frederick the Great by a famous biographer Onno Klopp. I read about 120 pages a day, though I don’t always understand every word, yet I am quick in making out a sentence

Did Lottie get my letter? I hope she was pleased. By all means give her a birthday present out of that pound, if you think fit, for remember I gave it to you. I hope the measles are all right again, it made me quite uneasy. It is very kind of Doctor Waller to attend to her.

The average age of our class is just about mine, though I am second biggest. Our good master hauls me up every day to mutilate poor Cicero, and turn him into bad German among the grins of the aborigines. I am the only foreigner in the class. I am going to pitch into my French essay, but we had some holidays at Shrovetide, and it rather put me out.