“Not much, I think. He tried every day, but it was not much good. It was only at the end of a year, and all of a sudden, that he managed to speak it fluently. The assistants knew a few French words, and Klotz rather more, as well as a little English.
“As for Macbeth, he only understood his own language.
“Lerne told me that he had agreed to take him at Fonval because the young man’s father asked him; he wanted his son to work for a time under Lerne’s directions.”
“Where was your room, Emma?”
“Near the laboratory. Oh, far away from Macbeth and Klotz!” she added with a smile.
“How did all those men stand towards one another?”
“They seemed good friends, but I do not know if they were really. I fancy that the four Germans were jealous of Macbeth. I saw nasty looks sometimes, but in any case, they can’t have hurt Donovan much, because his job was not in the laboratory, but in the château and the conservatory.
“His work at first was to swat up French from books. We used to meet often, because I was always coming and going in the house. He was always polite and respectful, to judge by the signs he made, of course, and I was obliged to be amiable, too.
“Those little bits of politeness, I am afraid, made him and Klotz hate each other; I soon saw that, but they both managed to hide their dislike wonderfully.
“Nell could not hide hers, and never missed a chance of growling at the German, and that was, to my thinking, only the smallest sign that a row was likely, but your uncle—he saw nothing, and I did not want to bother him with my complaints. I did not dare to do so, and on the other hand, I thought it rather good fun to make them jealous.