ew 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.'

"I was getting angry by this time. If I hadn't really wanted the thing I
should have walked out of the shop; but there the cushions were in the
window, evidently for sale. I didn't see _why_ I couldn't have one.

"I said: 'I will have one!' It is a simple sentence. I said it with
determination.

"A third girl came up at this point, the