B930 <=> B932 (BTG XLII Beelzebub in America, p. 931)

“Then having lighted his ‘dwarf stove’ he put the frying pan on it; and still moving ponderously, he then went over to one of the many cupboards, took from it a tin of some canned food, opened it, and emptied its contents into the said frying pan.

“Then in the same way he went over to another cupboard, and again took out a tin of some canned food, but this time he put only a little of the contents into the frying pan, and having stirred the resulting mixture, he put the whole lot with precision on a plate which he set on the table and again sat down in his former pace and resumed the interrupted reading of his newspaper.

“The waiter who had ordered this ‘fancy dish’ soon returned to the kitchen bearing a very large what is called ‘copper’ tray on which were a vast quantity of hollow metal, what is called fashionable cutlery, and having placed the dish with this strange food on the said tray he carried the whole into the restaurant.

“When I returned and resumed my seat at my table, I saw that at another table quite near, a Mister was sitting who was smacking his lips while eating the dish which I had chanced to see prepared in the kitchen.

“Looking again out of the window into the street, I eventually discerned the Mister I expected in the crowd, so, settling my bill at once, I left the restaurant.

“And now, my boy, maintaining the form of mentation of our dear teacher, I might as well tell you also a little about the ‘speech’ of these American beings.

“You must know that before my arrival on that continent I could already speak the ‘tongue’ of the beings of that continent, namely, what is called the ‘English tongue.’

“But from the very first day of my arrival in the capital of this North America, I already experienced great inconvenience in my ‘verbal intercourse’ because, as it turned out, although these beings use this English tongue for verbal intercourse among themselves this English tongue of theirs is rather special and in fact quite peculiar.