He was a pleasant-looking elderly gentleman; she had never
seen him before that evening.
"You know French well, then?" said he, speaking to her in that
tongue.
"I don't know, Sir," said Ellen, modestly.
"And you have heard of the Swiss mountaineers?"
"Oh yes, Sir; a great deal."
He opened his watch and showed her in the back of it an
exquisite little painting, asking her if she knew what it was.
"It is an Alpine chalet, is it not, Sir?"
He was pleased, and went on, always in French, to tell Ellen
that Switzerland was his country; and drawing a little aside
from the other talkers, he entered into a long, and to her
most delightful conversation. In the pleasantest manner he
gave her a vast deal of very entertaining detail about the
country, and the manners and habits of the people of the Alps,
especially in the Tyrol, where he had often travelled. It
would have been hard to tell whether the child had most
pleasure in receiving, or the man of deep study and science
most pleasure in giving, all manner of information. He saw, he
said, that she was very fond of the heroes of freedom, and
asked if she had ever heard of Andrew Hofer, the Tyrolese
peasant, who had led on his brethren in their noble endeavours
to rid themselves of French and Bavarian oppression. Ellen had
never heard of him.
"You know William Tell?"
"Oh yes," Ellen said; "she knew him.
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