nd Herr Knapf
walk comfortably down to the Pabst theater to see the German play by the
German stock company. They applaud their favorite stout, blond, German
comedienne as she romps through the acts of a sprightly German comedy,
and after the play they go to their favorite Wein-stube around the
corner. There they have sardellen and cheese sandwiches and a great deal
of beer, and for one charmed evening Frau Knapf forgets all about the
insides of geese and the thickening for gravies, and is happy.

Many of these things Frau Knapf herself told me, standing there by the
door with the Kuchen heavy on her mind. Some of them I got from Ernst
von Gerhard when I told him about my visitor and her errand. The errand
was not disclosed until Frau Knapf had caught me casting a despairing
glance at my last typewritten page.

"Ach, see! you got no time for talking to, ain't it?" she apologized.

"Heaps of time," I politely assured her, "don't hurry. But why not have
a chair and be comfortable?"

Frau Knapf was not to be deceived. "I go in a minute. But first it is
something I like to ask you. You know maybe Frau Nirlanger?"

I shook my head.

"But sure you must know. From Vienna she is, with such a voice like a
bird."

"And the beads, and the gray gown, and the fringe, and the cigarettes?"

"And the oogly husband," finished Frau Knapf, nodding.

"Oogly," I agreed, "isn't the name for it. And so she is Frau Nirlanger?
I thought there would be a Von at the very least."

Whereupon my visitor deserted the doorknob, took half a dozen stealthy
steps in my direction and lowered her voice to a hissing whisper of
confidence.

"It is more as a Von. I will tell you. Today comes Frau Nirlanger by
me and she says: 'Frau Knapf, I wish to buy clothes, aber echt
Amerikanische. Myself, I do not know what is modish, and I cannot go
alone to buy.'"

"That's a grand idea," said I, recalling the gray basque and the
cannon-ball beads.

"Ja, sure it is," agreed Frau Knapf. "Soo-o-o, she asks me was it some
lady who would come with her by the stores to help a hat and suit and
dresses to buy. Stylish she likes they should be, and echt Amerikanisch.
So-o-o-o, I say to her, I would go myself with you, only so awful
stylish I ain't, and anyway I got no time. But a lady I know who is got
such stylish clothes!" Frau Knapf raised admiring hands and eyes toward
heaven. "Such a nice lady she is, and stylish, like anything! And her
name is Frau Orme."