Tobermory thoughts on the Final Line

     "If he was trying German irregular verbs on the poor beast," said Clovis, "he deserved all he got." 

To analyze this quote is difficult due to the obscurity of how it is composed. My initial assumptions after reading it and not the entire story was “irregular German verbs” referred to some form of exorcism. I say this with little context of the piece of literature it originates. Based on the time the author resided we can infer Germany was the nation that was growing strong and rivaled Britain. The tone was pessimistic and ironic in its outlook on human nature and the characters.Germans had rightfully earned a reputation for being militant and efficient from the strict Prussian school models and recent drives for imperialism. So German words could be alluding to something along the German religious tradition or martial discipline. 

After thoroughly examine "Tobermory" the last line is about the main character Cornelius trying to train another animal this time in Dresden to learn to speak but in German. This could be significant due to rumors on how the author was a spy so if he could teach a German animal to act as a sentinel to gather intel on that nation. Another thing to question is the name Clovis. I over read his name in the story maybe it is mentioned in another story by the author or a well known story.