Well, we laughed till we felt quite
ill, for of course Hella began to sing: "O du lieber Augustin," and
then I thought of Der dumme August [clown's nickname in circus] and we
wondered what Dora would call him. Gusti or Gustel, or Augi, my darling
Augi, my beloved Gusterl, oh dear, we were in fits of laughter. Then
we discussed what names we should like to have for our husbands, and I
said: Ewald or Leo, and Hella said: Wouldn't you like Siegfried? But I
put my hand on her mouth and said: "Shut up, or you will make me really
angry, _that_ is and must remain forgotten." She said what she would
like best would be to have a husband called Peter or Thamian or
Chrysostomus; then for a pet name she would use Dami or Sosti; and then
she said quite seriously that she would only marry a man called Egon, or
Alexander, or at least Georg. Just at that moment her mother came in to
call us to tea, and she said: "What's an that about Alexander and Georg?
You are such dreadful girls. If you are alone together for a couple
of minutes (I had come at half past 2 and the Brs. have tea at 4,
and that's what Hella's mother calls 2 minutes), you begin to talk of
unsuitable things." Hella was afraid her mother would think God knows
what, so she said: "Oh no, Mother, we were only discussing what names we
should like our fiances to have." You ought to have seen how her mother
went on.
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