‘Domestique, monsieur,’ said Jack, still blushing as far as his shirt. ‘Penhoët? Je préserve – je ai – le plus vivid rémembrance de vos combatte à Ushant, à bord le Pong, en vingt-quatre neuf.’ A second of attentive, polite but total blankness followed this, and turning to Christy-Pallière he said, ‘How do you say I have the liveliest recollection of Captain Penhoët’s gallant action off Ushant in ’99?’ Captain Christy-Pallière said this in another kind of French – renewed, far warmer smiles, another British shake-hand – and observed, ‘But we may all speak English. My colleague is one of our
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