Twainiacs, thank you for your input on the German question  :-).

Anybody else with a word? I am not able now to access any of the posted
scholarly works with reference to the subject.  Otherwise, the answers
so far give me an uneven sense about it.  One member asked what I
wanted to use the information for.  Fiction, a novella. Since the
character I'm drawing of Mark Twain is a dream figure, perhaps I could
have him say to his interlocutor  (who is dreaming the conversation),
"My German's not as good as it once was."

Maybe this would cover it?  I know:  He deserves more than fudge.

Thanks for your kind help.

Susan Dorman