M. Annie, when are they coming to see us? To-night?
A. No.
M. No? Why not? When are they coming? What are they waiting for? The idea! I never heard of such a thing! What do you——
A. (Breaking in.) Wait, wait, wait! give a body a chance. They have their reasons.
M. Reasons?—what reasons?
A. Well, now, when you stop and think, they’re royal good ones. They’ve got to talk German when they come, haven’t they? Of course. Well, they don’t know any German but Wie befinden Sie sich, and Haben Sie gut geschlafen, and Vater unser, and Ich trinke lieber Bier als Wasser, and a few little parlor things like that; but when it comes to talking, why, they don’t know a hundred and fifty German words, put them all together.
M. Oh, I see!
A. So they’re going neither to eat, sleep, smoke, nor speak the truth till they’ve crammed home the whole fifteen Meisterschafts auswendig!
M. Noble hearts!
A. They’ve given themselves till day after to-morrow, half-past 7 P. M., and then they’ll arrive here, loaded.