His good taste saved me , however , and the modest one was sent home for the morrow , when we were to meet Joseph and Napoleon and go to the concert in the Tuileries garden . Then we set off on our day of sight-seeing , and Laddie proved himself an excellent guide . We had a charming trip about the enchanted city , a gay lunch at a café , and a first brief glimpse of the Louvre . At dinner-time I found a posy at my place ; and afterward Laddie came and spent the evening in my little salon , playing to me , and having what he called ` babblings and pleasantries . ' I found that he was translating ` Vanity Fair ' into Polish , and intended to sell it at home . He convulsed me with his struggles to put cockney English and slang into good Polish , for he had saved up a list of words for me to explain to him . Hay-stack and bean-pot were among them , I remember ; and when he had mastered the meanings he fell upon the sofa exhausted . Other days like this followed , and we led a happy life together : for my twelve years ' seniority made our adventures quite proper , and I fearlessly went anywhere on the arm of my big son . Not to theatres or balls , however , for heated rooms were bad for Laddie , but pleasant trips out of the city in the bright spring weather , quiet strolls in the gardens , moonlight concerts in the Champs Elysées ; or , best of all , long talks with music in the little red salon , with the gas turned low , and the ever-changing scenes of the Rue de Rivoli under the balcony . Never were pleasures more cheaply purchased or more thoroughly enjoyed , for our hearts were as light as our purses , and our ` little economies ' gave zest to our amusements . Joseph and Napoleon sometimes joined us , and I felt in my element with the three invalid soldier boys , for Napoleon still limped with a wound received in the war , Joseph had never recovered from his two years ' imprisonment in an Austrian dungeon , and Laddie 's loyalty might yet cost him his life . Thanks to them , I discovered a joke played upon me by my ' polisson ' . He told me to call him ` ma drogha , ' saying it meant ` my friend , ' in Polish . I innocently did so , and he seemed to find great pleasure in it , for his eyes always laughed when I said it . Using it one day before the other lads , I saw a queer twinkle in their eyes , and suspecting mischief , demanded the real meaning of the words . Laddie tried to silence them , but the joke was too good to keep , and I found to my dismay that I had been calling him ` my darling ' in the tenderest manner . How the three rascals shouted , and what a vain struggle it was to try and preserve my dignity when Laddie clasped his hands and begged pardon , explaining that jokes were necessary to his health , and he never meant me to know the full baseness of this ` pleasantrie ! ' I revenged myself by giving him some bad English for his translation , and telling him of it just as I left Paris . It was not all fun with my boy , however ; he had his troubles , and in spite of his cheerfulness he knew what heartache was . Walking in the quaint garden of the Luxembourg one day , he confided to me the little romance of his life .
A very touching little romance as he XXXXX it , with eloquent eyes and voice and frequent pauses for breath .
clasped cost demanded found go keep purchased saved saying told