There! The lawyer got nothing for his trifling question. And then it all
came out what a heartless jilt Mrs. Molie was. She had known all the time
that Mr. Hoey had been on a traveling scholarship in Switzerland, but she
had never mentioned it. What a snake in the grass! She had even encouraged
the lawyer, but no one else, to talk about Switzerland.

"Oh, yes, of course Associate Master Hoey has been in Switzerland" she
said, as though to clinch the matter.

"In that case, the Associate Master and I have looked on the country with
different eyes; that's all," said the lawyer, suddenly anxious to end the
controversy.

"They haven't even folk tales there," said the Associate Master, who
seemed unable to stop. "There they sit, generation after generation,
filing watch springs and piloting Englishmen up their mountains. But it's
a country without folk music or folk tales. I suppose you think we ought
to work hard to resemble the Swiss in that, too?"

"What about William Tell?" asked Miss Johnsen.

Several of the ladies nodded, or at any rate Miss Palm did.

At this point Mrs. Molie turned her head and looked out of the window as
she said:

"You really had a very different opinion about Switzerland before, Mr.
Associate Master."