now at this man and now
at that, must have been really comic. I don't say it was high-class
humour, but it would have amused most people. Those Germans seemed to
see no fun in it whatever--just seemed anxious, that was all. There was
one man, a little man, who stood with his back against the brake; I fell
against him five times, I counted them. You would have expected the
fifth time would have dragged a laugh out of him, but it didn't; he
merely looked tired. They are a dull lot."

George also had an adventure at Dresden. There was a shop near the
Altmarkt, in the window of which were exhibited some cushions for sale.
The proper business of the shop was handling of glass and china; the
cushions appeared to be in the nature of an experiment. They were very
beautiful cushions, hand-embroidered on satin. We often passed the shop,
and every time George paused and examined those cushions. He said he
thought his aunt would like one.

George has been very attentive to this aunt of his during the journey. He
has written her quite a long letter every day, and from every town we
stop at he sends her off a present. To my mind, he is overdoing the
business, and more than once I have expostulated with him. His aunt will
be meeting other aunts, and talking to them; the whole class will become
disorganised and unruly. As a nephew, I object to the impossible
standard that George is setting up. But he will not listen.

Therefore it was that on the Saturday he left us after lunch, saying he
would go round to that shop and get one of those cushions for his aunt.
He said he would not be long, and suggested our waiting for him.

We waited for what seemed to me rather a long time. When he rejoined us
he was empty handed, and looked worried. We asked him where his cushion
was. He said he hadn't got a cushion, said he had changed his mind, said
he didn't think his aunt would care for a cushion. Evidently something
was amiss. We tried to get at the bottom of it, but he was not
communicative. Indeed, his answers after our twentieth question or
thereabouts became quite short.

In the evening, however, when he and I happened to be alone, he broached
the subject himself. He said:

"They are somewhat peculiar in some things, these Germans."

I said: "What has happened?"

"Well," he answered, "there was that cushion I wanted."

"For your aunt," I remarked.

"Why not?" he returned. He was huffy in a moment; I never kn