“Lowndes, I have come to ask you for a little piece of advice.”
Lowndes was flattered and relished the mystery.
“Ye-es,” he said, smiling, in a slow, ‘sober,’ professional sing-song.
“Or rather, for an opinion. What is your opinion of German women?”
Lowndes had spent two years in Berlin and Münich. Many of his friends were Austrian.
“German women? But I must know first why you ask me that question. You see, it’s a wide subject.”
“A wide subject—wide. Yes, very good! Ha ha!—Well, it is like this. I think that they are superior to Englishwomen. That is a very dangerous opinion to hold, as there are so many German women knocking about just now.—I want to rid myself of it.—Can you help me?”
Lowndes mused on the ground. Then he looked up brightly.
“No, I can’t. Because I share it!”
“Lowndes, I’m surprised at you. I never thought you were that sort of man!”