140 SPORTING REMINISCENCES 



Directly I got a house I meant to import Irish 

 servants again, but in the lodgings I got a German 

 maid who did not know a word of EngHsh, nor I 

 many words of German. Wte heisst es, was about 

 my stock. I had tried before this to pick up a 

 little from a German governess of a friend of mine, 

 but she knew too much English. I remember one 

 cold day she told us that she did " not hke your 

 EngHsh fire. He make you hot before and cold 

 be'md ! " 



So Anna got off the boat dumb to my language. 

 I wanted her to teach the children when they came 

 across, and my stock of her tongue was very 

 limited. 



But in those days I was blundering along in 

 German and she had only got hold of day and 

 night, and table and chair, and she generally got 

 them wrong. 



In a week she improved a little and I left her 

 sitting at the dining-room window working. 



With beaming face she rushed out to meet me 

 when I came in. 



" Ac/i gnddige Frau. EengHsh. Eenglish learn, 

 gud Eenglish. Man pass. I hear. Damn fool, 

 damn fool. New English. Gnddige Frau." 



Off she went to the post ofhce after that and 

 demanded a pennee sthamp and a half -past stamp 

 and was quite offended when she did not get the 

 latter. 



" Stupid official," she declared in German. 



