The captain looked up: "Eh?"
Smilingly his wife pointed over her shoulder to the neighbouring villa.
"Marie Falkenhein?" asked Güntz.
Frau Kläre nodded.
"You don't want to earn a match-maker's reward, do you, now?" inquired her husband.
"Oh, Fatty, darling! don't you know me better than that?" his wife protested. "No, no, nothing of the sort! But seriously, I do mean that those two young people would suit each other very well. With regard to Marie, I know positively this much, she thinks Reimers very nice; and that is, at any rate, something to go on, until our dear Reimers opens his eyes."
"But let him open them quite by himself, please; no assistance, I do beg!" the captain interrupted.
"Of course, Fatty, quite by himself."
"But, Kläre, how about that episode of the Gropphusen? That was a bit off the rails, wasn't it?"
"Nothing of the kind. Nothing but a mere passing flirtation."