Do you?'
Arthur thought very likely that she did not, and Peterkin went on:
'You say it means a boat in French; _canal_, do you s'pose?'
Arthur did not think it mattered what boat, and Peterkin continued:
'_Lubber-toe_! Sounds droll, but I like it, I'll see an engraver to-day
but how do you spell the plaguy thing!'
Arthur wrote it on a slip of paper, which he handed Peterkin, who began
slowly:
_L-e le, b-a-t-bat; le-bat_. Why, what in thunder! That ain't
_Lubbertoe_. 'Tain't nothin'!'
With an amused smile Arthur explained that the pronunciation of French
words had very little to do with the way they were spelled; then, very
carefully pronouncing the name several times, and making Peterkin repeat
it after him, he said good-bye, and walked away, thinking to himself:
'There are bigger lunatics outside the asylum than I am, but it is not
possible the fool will adopt that name.'
But the fool did. May Jane approved, and Billy did not care, provided
his father would pronounce it right, and so in less than a week, '_Le
Bateau_' was on Peterkin's door-plate, and on the two gate-posts of the
entrance to his grounds, and May Jane's visiting cards bore the words:
'Mrs. Peterkin. Le Bateau. Fridays.'
She had her _days_ now, like Mrs.
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