human
I'm not going to say I'm pleased about it, Johann, she declared. We had agreed that it would be better practice for us to use the Christian names even when alone.
gpt
It wants thinking over.
human
Your reason?
gpt
Von Gratzen. You saw him this morning, didn't you?
human
You'll have to be awfully careful with him. He knows, as well as I do, that my cousin is an arrant coward, and that no man in all Berlin would be less likely to do what you did this afternoon; or could have done it, in fact. The Baron's a man I could never understand. No one can. He does the most extraordinary things; he's horribly keen and shrewd; quixotic at one time and abominably harsh at another; although from his manner you'd think he wouldn't hurt a fly.
gpt
Well, let's hope he'll show his quixotic side over this, for it's too late to alter things;
human
There's a hitch, I'm sorry to say. About Hans, he reported with a worried look.
gpt
His permit to travel has been refused. They won't release him from his training even for twenty-four hours. I did all I could, I assure you, Rosa.
human
And about the other?
gpt
Oh, that's all right, of course. A mere matter of form; and it will be ready to-morrow, I expect. But one's not much use without the other.
human
Johann could use yours, Oscar,
gpt
Not on any account, I protested.
human
Herr Feldmann might get into no end of a mess.
gpt
It isn't that, Lassen. I'm so well known all along the line that it would be hopeless. You'd be spotted in a moment. I'd run the risk like a shot otherwise; I know how Rosa feels about it.
human
What can we do?
gpt
Make the best of it. Nessa must go without me, if I can't get off; and there's no chance of that tomorrow. Will the papers have a definite date for the journey?
human
I gave the date we agreed, but I dare say I could get that altered to allow us a margin of a day or two, perhaps a week; but then this wedding is the excuse; and of course that date can't be altered. But I could see Miss Caldicott into Holland all right.
gpt
What, with a false passport! It's awfully good of you to offer, but I'm sure she wouldn't hear of it for a second. No; we must try the other way.
human
What's that?
gpt
I know a lot about him, and I wouldn't put a pfennig's reliance on any hope from that quarter, he said emphatically.
human
I don't say he won't do anything, mind you, because one never knows what he will do next. He's one of the sharpest and ablest men in the country; we all admit that; but----
gpt
Unreliable? He nodded.
human
In a shifty unscrupulous way, you mean?
gpt
Oh dear, no; not that at all, he said vigorously.
human
Individual. That is the best word. If he thinks a thing should be done, he does it whether it is according to official rules or not. That is not German. He is not thorough, as we understand the word.