"Stranger? Nonsense! I meet you,—you are in misfortune; therefore we are old friends. And an old friend may surely lend a room to her old friend."
"And your name?"
"They call me Bertha."
"And you are single?"
"If you ask me that question an hour hence, I shall say, 'No.'"
"No!—the only harsh word you have used."
"Why harsh?"
"Well, shut up in a dark room, you have your thoughts to yourself; and you think, and think, and think again; and you always think of the same thing; and then—then you wake up, and there's an end to your dream."
"And how do you know I have not dreamt?—The clothes I got for you fit you well; you look a German. Ah, you make a grimace!"
"So, you are going to be married."