mit Moos belegt worden!  Freilich ist’s mir eine dumme Zei gewesen.  Aber—­um Gotteswillen, was geht das mir an?  Was soll ich daraus machen?  Taglich sagt die Frau Wirthin, ‘Gretchen’ (dumb-show of paying a piece of money into her hand), ’du bist eine der besten Sprach —­Lehrerinnen der Welt!’ Act, Gott!  Und taglich sagen die edlen jungen Manner, ‘Gretchen, liebes Kind’ (money-paying again in dumb-show—­three coins), ‘bleib’ taub—­blind—­todt!’ und so bleibe ich....  Jetzt wird es ungefahr neun Uhr sein; bald kommen sie vom Spaziergehen zuruck.  Also, es ware gut dass ich meinem eigenen Schatz einen Besuch abstatte und spazieren gehe.

[Dons her shawl.  Exit.  L.]

Enter Wirthin.  R.

Wirthin.  That was Mr. Stephenson’s train that just came in.  Evidently the girls are out walking with Gretchen;—­can’t find them, and she doesn’t seem to be around. (A ring at the door.) That’s him.  I’ll go see. [Exit.  R.]

Enter Stephenson and Wirthin.  R.

S. Well, how does sickness seem to agree with you?

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!

Wirthin.  Of course it ain’t grammatical—­the inventor of the language can’t talk grammatical; if the dative didn’t fetch him the accusative would; but it’s German all the same, and don’t you forget it!

S. Go on—­go on—­this is delicious news—­

Wirthin.  Gretchen, she says to me at the start, ’Never you mind about company for ’em,’ sh-she—­’I’m company enough.’  And I says, ’All right —­fix it your own way, child;’ and that she was right is shown by the fact that to this day they don’t care a straw for any company but hers.