were in a
hopeless state of confusion, and she was troubled by a fear that a lack
of intelligence had made her seem disobliging.

When Brent overtook the professor, the latter said, "All Englishmen are
ridiculous; and you are a good specimen of the race. Why should you stop
on the public highway and talk nothingness to a harmless girl?"

"All Germans are prejudiced; and Professor Helfenstein is a true
_Deutscher_," answered Brent. "My remarks to the young Non-Sueve no
doubt interested her deeply, and I fancy she will reflect on them, as
Piers Plowman says,--

With inwit and outwit,
Imagynyng and studie."

They were both good walkers, and, though the heat became somewhat
oppressive at noon, they did not halt until they had reached the village
where they intended to pass the night. In this place Helfenstein heard
the Pennsylvania-German dialect spoken to his heart's content. After
dinner he sat on the porch of the inn for several hours, talking to a
number of the indigenes and making copious notes.

When Brent returned from a visit to one of the village stores, he found
him looking over the result of his investigations.

"Will the 'Allgemeine Zeitung' have the benefit of your researches?"
asked the Englishman.

"Most like. The people at home love to have tidings of shoots from the
old German lingual stock. The dialect of this locality is a truly
noteworthy one."

"I heard it spoken just now by the young blossom we met on the road this
morning."

"Does she live here?"

"No. She had driven in to the village to make some purchases. Her father
is one Reinfelter, who tills the soil of his ancestral demesne over
there near the mountains."

"From whom did you learn these facts?"

"From the tradesman with whom she had been talking."

"Will agnosticism let you be absolutely sure his statements are true?"

"No; and even less sure that they are untrue. It seems to me that a vast
amount of credulity is needed for positive unbelief. Do atheists ever
have doubts about anything?"

"We don't sit still and say, '_Quien sabe?_' like you agnostics. When
nobody shall believe or disbelieve, who will _act_?"

"I give it up."

With a look of profound disgust, the professor pocketed his note-book
and went to seek refreshment in the shape of beer.

Notwithstanding the difference in their ways of thinking, these two men
had something in common which furnished a strong bond of union between
them. Helfenstein someti