Molly began assiduously to hunt in the archives of her brain for the small German vocabulary which she could call her own.
"_Narr!_ What can _narr_ mean?" the question kept recurring to her as dinner progressed. She visualized lists of words in a worn old blank book used at school. "_Narr_, _Nase_, _Nesse_, _Nest_!" She tried to remember the English on the opposite page. How well she remembered the little old book wherein was written the despised German exercises. The script in itself had been almost impossible to learn and as for mastering the language,--she had been so half-hearted about it that she had not been compelled to keep it up.
"_Narr_, _nase_, _nesse_, _nest_!" ran through and through and over and over in her mind. Suddenly just as Professor Green asked her what she would say to adjourning to the library, the list of English words flashed on her brain.
"'Fool, nose, nephew, nest'!" she cried audibly.
"What?" Edwin feared his Molly had gone crazy.
"Oh--I--I--mean, yes--coffee in the library!" and she arose from her seat in confusion.
Why should that calm-looking, slow-speaking woman call her poor lame husband a fool? _Narr! Narr!_ It was certainly strange.
The first one of the old girls to arrive was Otoyo, Mrs. Matsuki, with the little Cho-Cho-San. Otoyo had changed not at all in the years that had elapsed since college days. Perhaps an added matronly dignity was hers, but this was not much in evidence when she was with her dear old friends. She was beautifully and elegantly dressed. All her clothes were made of the most exquisite fabrics. Her blouses were of the finest and sheerest, if of linen; and the heaviest and richest, if of silk. Her furs were the furriest and her suits of the most approved cut and material. Her little boots were a marvel of fit and style.
"Perfect, like a Japanese puzzle!" Judy declared. "Every little part made to fit every other little part!"
"Yes, and the whole a wonderful creation like some rare print or bit of pottery!" agreed Molly.
Otoyo had adapted herself to the manners and customs of her adopted country, wearing them with the same grace she did the garments. She had an English nurse for the little Cho-Cho-San and the child was being reared as much like American children as possible. A tiny little thing, she was, with coal black hair and slanting eyes. There was much mischief peeping from those eyes around the tip-tilted nose. The mouth was a crimson bow, ever ready to break into a tinkling laugh. She and Mildred rushed together as though their short lives had been spent waiting for this opportunity. Mildred was younger by several months but taller by several inches than the little Japanese. What a picture the two children made! Mildred, with her red gold hair curling in little ringlets all over her head, her round rosy face and wide hazel eyes, was exactly the opposite to Cho-Cho-San, with her straight, bobbed, ebony black hair, her oval, olive face and almond eyes.