A Spoiler Of Men PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ...It appeared that his father was particularly anxious that he should master the language colloquially; so was his mother, and his sisters--it would be so very useful when he took them abroad; while he had an uncle who was always preaching that the one indispensable thing for a young man nowadays was a practical knowledge of modern languages. To throw away so excellent a chance of becoming almost as German as the Germans, it was not to be thought of. Moreover, a change would do him good. He was rather run down; he did not say what had run him down, because John Banner had his eye on him, but a change always did do him good, besides enlarging his mind. And, anyhow, they would be away so short a time that he might as well go with them as not. When he had made it quite clear, after some stumbling, why he was going without being invited, Mr. Banner fixed him with his glance. "Then do I understand, Sharratt, that the sole reason why you are favouring us with your company is that you may improve your knowledge of the German language?" Mr. Sharratt seemed uneasy. "I don't know about its being the sole reason, but it's one reason. German's a lot of help to a fellow." "No doubt. Then I presume that you don't propose to speak a word of any other tongue but German from the moment you quit the English shores." "Oh, I say! that's a tall order. As a matter of fact, I only do know three or four words of German, and I'm not sure which they are, and, anyhow, you can't get along very fast with only three." "That's true. Then I take it that you intend to gain at least a nodding acquaintance with the other two or three hundred thousand words during the two or three days that we propose to be away. Dick, your...