Frau Nimptsch nodded in assent, without seeking to be further enlightened as to this "naturalness," and went on talking herself: "And it only takes a fortnight to go from Bremen to America. And he has been there. And he was a tinman or a locksmith or a workman in a machine shop or something like that, but when he saw that he could not make it go, he became a doctor and went around with a lot of little bottles and he began to preach too. And because he preached so well, he got a position with the ... There now, I have forgotten it again. But they must have been very pious people and good proper people too." "Glory be to God!" said Frau Doerr. "Surely he was not.... Heavens, what is the name of those people that have so many wives, always six or seven and sometimes even more.... I don't know what they do with so many." This theme seemed made on purpose for Frau Doerr. But Frau Nimptsch reassured her friend: "No, dear Frau Doerr, it is quite different. At first I thought it was something like that, but he laughed and said: 'The Lord forbid. Frau Nimptsch. I am a bachelor. And if I ever marry, I think one will be quite enough.'" "Oh, that takes a load off my heart," said Frau Doerr. "And what happened afterwards? I mean over in America." "Well, after that everything went well and it was not long till he had help enough. For religious people are always helping each other. And he found customers again and got back to his old trade. And that is what he works at now, and he is in a big factory here on the Koepnickerstrasse, where they make little tubes and burners and stopcocks and everything that is needed for gas. And he is the chief man, something like a foreman carpenter or foreman mason, and has perhaps a hundred under him. And he is a very respectable man and he wears a tall hat and black gloves. And he has a good salary too." "And Lena?" "Oh, Lena, she would take him all right. And why not? But she cannot hold her tongue, and if he comes and says anything to her, she is going to tell him everything, all the old stories, first the one with Kuhlwein (and that is so long ago that it is just as if it never had happened), and then all about the Baron. And Franke, you must know, is a refined and well-behaved man, and really a gentleman." "We must persuade her out of that. He does not need to know everything; why should he? We never know everything." "Yes, yes. But Lena ..." CHAPTER XVIII