Margaret. Dass weiss ich nicht. Sie ist schon vor zwei Tagen ins Bett gegangen—
A. My! how fliessend you speak!
M. Danke schön—und sagte dass sie nicht wohl sei.
A. Good! Oh, no, I don’t mean that! no—only lucky for us—glücklich, you know I mean because it’ll be so much nicer to have them all to ourselves.
M. Oh, natürlich! Ja! Dass ziehe ich durchaus vor. Do you believe your Meisterschaft will stay with you, Annie?
A. Well, I know it is with me—every last sentence of it; and a couple of hods of Ollendorff, too, for emergencies. May be they’ll refuse to deliver,—right off—at first, you know—der Verlegenheit wegen—aber ich will sie später herausholen—when I get my hand in—und vergisst Du dass nicht!
M. Sei nicht grob, Liebste. What shall we talk about first—when they come?
A. Well—let me see. There’s shopping—and—all that about the trains, you know,—and going to church—and—buying tickets to London, and Berlin, and all around—and all that subjunctive stuff about the battle in Afghanistan, and where the American was said to be born, and so on—and—and ah—oh, there’s so many things—I don’t think a body can choose beforehand, because you know the circumstances and the atmosphere always have so much to do in directing a conversation, especially a German conversation, which is only a kind of an insurrection, any way. I believe it’s best to just depend on Prov—(Glancing at watch, and gasping)—half-past—seven!
M. Oh, dear, I’m all of a tremble! Let’s get something ready, Annie!
(Both fall nervously to reciting): Entschuldigen Sie, mein Herr, können Sie mir vielleicht sagen wie ich nach dem norddeutschen Bahnhof gehe? (They repeat it several times, losing their grip and mixing it all up.)