'Our poor Vicki—if she were more like you—'
'Like me?'
'It is so clear that you have never known this terrible malady of love. You have the face of a joyful Backfisch.'
'Oh,'—I began to laugh; and laughed, and laughed till the umbrella shook showers of raindrops off each of its points.
He stood watching me thoughtfully. 'It is true,' he said.
'Oh,' was all I could ejaculate; for indeed the idea made me very merry.
'No member of our sex,' said he, 'has ever even for a moment caught what is still a bright and untouched maiden fancy.'
'There was a young man once,' I began, 'in the Jena cake-shop—'
'Ach' he interrupted, waving the young man and his cakes away with an impatient movement of the hand.
'I didn't know,' said I, 'that you could read people's past.'