We waited for what seemed to me rather a long time. When he rejoined us he was empty handed, and looked worried. We asked him where his cushion was. He said he hadn't got a cushion, said he had changed his mind, said he didn't think his aunt would care for a cushion. Evidently something was amiss. We tried to get at the bottom of it, but he was not communicative. Indeed, his answers after our twentieth question or thereabouts became quite short. In the evening, however, when he and I happened to be alone, he broached the subject himself. He said: "They are somewhat peculiar in some things, these Germans." I said: "What has happened?" "Well," he answered, "there was that cushion I wanted." "For your aunt," I remarked. "Why not?" he returned. He was huffy in a moment; I never knew a man so touchy about an aunt. "Why shouldn't I send a cushion to my aunt?" "Don't get excited," I replied. "I am not objecting; I respect you for it." He recovered his temper, and went on: "There were four in the window, if you remember, all very much alike, and each one labelled in plain figures twenty marks. I don't pretend to speak German fluently, but I can generally make myself understood with a little effort, and gather the sense of what is said to me, provided they don't gabble. I went into the shop. A young girl came up to me; she was a pretty, quiet little soul, one might almost say, demure; not at all the sort of girl from whom you would have expected such a thing. I was never more surprised in all my life." "Surprised about what?" I said. George always assumes you know the end of the story while he is telling you the beginning; it is an annoying method. "At what happened," replied George; "at what I am telling you. She smiled and asked me what I wanted. I understood that all right; there could have been no mistake about that. I put down a twenty mark piece on the counter and said: "Please give me a cushion." "She stared at me as if I had asked for a feather bed. I thought, maybe, she had not heard, so I repeated it louder. If I had chucked her under the chin she could not have looked more surprised or indignant. "She said she thought I must be making a mistake. "I did not want to begin a long conversation and find myself stranded. I said there was no mistake. I pointed to my twenty mark piece, and repeated for the third time that I wanted a cushion, 'a twenty mark cushion.' "Another girl came up, an elder girl; and the first girl repeated to her what I had just said: she seemed quite excited about it. The second girl did not believe her--did not think I looked the sort of man who would want a cushion. To make sure, she put the question to me herself. "'Did you say you wanted a cushion?' she asked. "'I have said it three times,' I answered. 'I will say it again--I want a cushion.' "She said: 'Then you can't have one.'