"Nor I either," laughed Lena. "Frau Doerr is quite right: for that matter, she is always right. But really, when one reads such a verse, one has always something to start with, I mean to begin a conversation with, for the beginning is always the hardest, just as it is with writing letters. And I simply cannot imagine how you can begin a conversation at once with no more ado, with so many strange ladies, for you are not all acquainted with each other." "Oh, my dear Lena," said Botho, "it isn't so hard as you think. It is really quite easy. If you like, I will give you a dinner-table conversation now." Frau Doerr and Frau Nimptsch said that they would like to hear it and Lena too nodded her assent. "Now," went on Baron Botho, "you must imagine that you are a little Countess. And I have just escorted you to the table and sat down and we are taking the first spoonful of soup." "Very well. But what now?" "And now I say to you: 'If I am not mistaken, I saw you yesterday at the flower show, you and your mother together. It is not surprising. The weather entices us out every day now and we might almost say that it is fit for travelling. Have you made any plans for the summer, Countess?' And now you answer, that unfortunately nothing is settled yet, because your papa is determined to go to Bavaria, while your dearest wish is to see Saxon Switzerland with the Koenigstein and the Bastei." "It really is," laughed Lena. "You see, that goes very well. And then I go on: 'Yes, gracious Countess, in that we share the same tastes. I prefer Saxon Switzerland to any other part of the world, even to the actual Switzerland itself. One cannot always revel in the grander aspects of nature, and clamber and get out of breath all the time. But Saxon Switzerland! Heavenly, ideal. There is Dresden; in a quarter or a half hour I can be there, and I can see pictures, the theatre, the great gardens, the Zwinger, and the green vault. Do not neglect to see the tankard with the foolish virgins, and above all things that cherry stone, on which the whole of the Lord's prayer is carved. It can only be seen through the magnifying glass.'" "So that is the way you talk!" "Exactly, my darling. And when I have paid sufficient attention to my left-hand neighbor, that is, the Countess Lena, I turn to my right-hand neighbor, that is, to Madame the Baroness Doerr...." Frau Doerr was so delighted that she slapped her knee with a loud noise.... "So I am to converse with Madame the Baroness Doerr? And what shall we talk about? Well, say we talk about mushrooms." "But, great heavens, mushrooms. About mushrooms, Herr Baron, that would never do."