cried Jo . `` Did you go to Paris ? '' `` We spent last winter there . '' `` Can you talk French ? '' `` We were not allowed to speak anything else at Vevay . '' `` Do say some ! I can read it , but ca n't pronounce . '' `` Quel nom a cette jeune demoiselle en les pantoufles jolis ? '' `` How nicely you do it ! Let me see ... you said , ` Who is the young lady in the pretty slippers ' , did n't you ? '' `` Oui , mademoiselle . '' `` It 's my sister Margaret , and you knew it was ! Do you think she is pretty ? '' `` Yes , she makes me think of the German girls , she looks so fresh and quiet , and dances like a lady . '' Jo quite glowed with pleasure at this boyish praise of her sister , and stored it up to repeat to Meg . Both peeped and criticized and chatted till they felt like old acquaintances . Laurie 's bashfulness soon wore off , for Jo 's gentlemanly demeanor amused and set him at his ease , and Jo was her merry self again , because her dress was forgotten and nobody lifted their eyebrows at her . She liked the ` Laurence boy ' better than ever and took several good looks at him , so that she might describe him to the girls , for they had no brothers , very few male cousins , and boys were almost unknown creatures to them . `` Curly black hair , brown skin , big black eyes , handsome nose , fine teeth , small hands and feet , taller than I am , very polite , for a boy , and altogether jolly . Wonder how old he is ? ''
It was on the tip of XXXXX 's tongue to ask , but she checked herself in time and , with unusual tact , tried to find out in a round-about way .
French German Jo Laurence Laurie Margaret Meg Quel acquaintances bashfulness