WIRTHIN. So well that I’ve never been out of my room since, till I heard your train come in.
S. Thou miracle of fidelity! Now I argue from that, that the new plan is working.
WIRTHIN. Working? Mr. Stephenson, you never saw anything like it in the whole course of your life! It’s absolutely wonderful the way it works.
S. Succeeds? No—you don’t mean it.
WIRTHIN. Indeed I do mean it. I tell you, Mr. Stephenson, that plan was just an inspiration—that’s what it was. You could teach a cat German by it.
S. Dear me, this is noble news! Tell me about it.
WIRTHIN. Well, it’s all Gretchen—ev-ery bit of it. I told you she was a jewel. And then the sagacity of that child—why, I never dreamed it was in her. Sh-she, ‘Never you ask the young ladies a question—never let on—just keep mum—leave the whole thing to me,’ sh-she.
S. Good! And she justified, did she?
WIRTHIN. Well, sir, the amount of German gabble that that child crammed into those two girls inside the next forty-eight hours—well, I was satisfied! So I’ve never asked a question—never wanted to ask any. I’ve just lain curled up there, happy. The little dears! they’ve flitted in to see me a moment, every morning and noon and supper-time; and as sure as I’m sitting here, inside of six days they were clattering German to me like a house afire!
S. Sp-lendid, splendid!