PREVIOUS ACQUAINTANCE WITH SUBJECT 27 



" ' This is what Professor Ziegler sends you from 

 Stuttgart with many greetings, and he hopes you are 

 good, and that you will write him a letter.' 



" I saw from his glance that he understood me, but 

 it was only after Fraulein Moekel had most earnestly 

 ' put it to him ' that he consented to rap out a reply. 

 At first it was not easy for me to follow, for owing 

 probably to his reluctance he was not "working" 

 distinctly, but by degrees I accustomed myself to his 

 methods, and was able to " keep count " along with 

 the others. What he rapped out was this : 



'"Lib Deigler, dank fiir fein gegs, 1 die geben nit 

 gegs arm lol 2 mehr schicken ; madel is lieb, gruss 

 von lol " ( = Dear Dr. Ziegler, thanks for nice biscuits : 

 they give no biscuits to poor Lol send more. The 

 girl's a dear : greetings from Lol.)' 



' After this I showed him some salmon wrapped up 

 in paper, and said : 



" ' See ! this is what I have brought for you ; what 

 is it ? ' To this he did not rap out ' salmon/ as we 

 had all expected good as it was to the smell, but 

 ' erst riechen ' (first let me smell it). This was a 

 ruse on his part, and one to which I succumbed, for 

 no sooner did I hold it nearer to his nose than he 

 snatched it out of my hand 1 It was, however, 

 promptly taken from him and he was told he would 

 have to ' deserve it ' first. In the meantime a young 

 female dog had come into the room she answered 

 to the name of Lola, and I asked Rolf if Lola might 

 come with me. His reply was a most decided ' No ! ' 

 I put some further questions to him, and Frau von 

 Moers particularly asked him : ' Is Lola clever ? 



1 Gegs = kek3 ; Germans call biscuits " keks." 



2 Here observe that Rolf has the impudence to complain of the 

 Moekels for not feeding him on sweet biscuits 1 



