none of the merchantment officers , with whom he might have shared a tongue , similarly made bold to speak across the table to laurence : the dreadful state in which he sat precluded such familiarity even from his increasingly free neighbors , and when it occurred to him on the next pass of the wine that shortly the conversation would be past any real exchange of information , laurence with some little struggle jettisoned his own sense of propriety , and leaning over asked the portuguese captain , some few seats down , `` you have french perhaps , monsieur ? ''