CHAPTER XXVIII 419
" Well , for sure case , I knawn ' t how they can understand t ' one t ' other : and if either o ' ye went there , ye could tell what they said , I guess ?"
" We could probably tell something of what they said , but not all -- for we are not as clever as you think us , Hannah . We don ' t speak German , and we cannot read it without a dictionary to help us ."
" And what good does it do you ?"
" We mean to teach it some time -- or at least the elements , as they say ; and then we shall get more money than we do now ."
" Varry like : but give ower studying ; ye ' ve done enough for to-night ." " I think we have : at least I ' m tired . Mary , are you ?"
" Mortally : after all , it ' s tough work fagging away at a language with no master but a lexicon ."
" It is , especially such a language as this crabbed but glorious Deutsch . I wonder when St . John will come home ."
" Surely he will not be long now : it is just ten ( looking at a little gold watch she drew from her girdle ). It rains fast , Hannah : will you have the goodness to look at the fire in the parlour ?"
The woman rose : she opened a door , through which I dimly saw a passage : soon I heard her stir a fire in an inner room ; she presently came back .
" Ah , childer !" said she , " it fair troubles me to go into yond ' room now : it looks so lonesome wi ' the chair empty and set back in a corner ."
She wiped her eyes with her apron : the two girls , grave before , looked sad now .