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The Secret Chronicles of Henry Dashwood, Vol. 2He smiled gently as he replied: 'You must forgive me, Mr. Dashwood, it is most impolite to have spoken in a language with which one's company is not familiar.' 'I don't think you should apologise over-much, Professor,' I said, although my eyes were fixed upon Miranda Franklin's pretty face. 'The British are so insular that we always expect Johnny Foreigner to speak English and we make little attempt to learn any other languages.' 'Oh come now, Henry,' Charles protested heatedly. 'Many good schools now offer French and German as well as the classics. But it's hardly surprising that Europeans are more needful to learn our language because English is the world's most important lingua franca.' 'I'm afraid that I must side with Mr. Dashwood,' said Professor Pachnos. 'On the other hand, an English colleague of mine who died some years ago spoke perfect French, Italian and Spanish as well as being fluent in Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi.' Childhood memories came back to me of how distressed my mother had been to hear the news that a cousin of hers, who was a famous archaeologist noted for his linguistic gifts, had died suddenly and I asked the Professor: 'Would you be talking of the late Henry Layard, by any chance, sir?' 'Yes, I am,' he answered. 'Henry and I worked together on 'digs' in Crete and also briefly in Constantinople ...» |
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