ALICE. He has eaten you and yours alive--and you defend him?
CURT. I have suffered worse things. And this man-eater has left my soul unharmed--_that_ he couldn't swallow!
CURT. No, I don't wish to--and therefore--don't ask again!
CAPTAIN. [_Enters from the right_] The telegram was already there, however--Please read it, Alice, for I cannot see--[_Seats himself pompously in the easy-chair_] Read it! You need not go, Curt.
ALICE _glances through the telegram quickly and looks perplexed_.
CAPTAIN. Well? Don't you find it pleasing?
[ALICE _stares in silence at the_ CAPTAIN.
CAPTAIN. [_With self-satisfaction_] So I thought--and what does the Colonel say?
ALICE. This is what he says: "On account of Miss Judith's impertinent communication over the telephone, I consider the relationship ended--for ever!"
ALICE. [_Reads rapidly_] "On account of Miss Judith's impertinent communication over the telephone, I consider the relationship ended--for ever!"
CAPTAIN. [_In a rage_] This is your doing!
ALICE. No! [_The_ Captain _tries to rise and draw his sabre, but falls back, touched by an apoplectic stroke_] There you got what was coming to you!
CAPTAIN. [_With senile tears in his voice_] Don't be angry at me--I am very sick----
ALICE. No, I don't want to touch him. [_Rings_.
CAPTAIN. [_As before_] You must not be angry at me! [_To_ CURT] Look after my children!
CURT. This is sublime! I am to look after his children, and he has stolen mine!
CAPTAIN. Look after my children! [_Continues to mumble unintelligibly_] Blub-blub-blub-blub.
ALICE. At last that tongue is checked! Can brag no more, lie no more, wound no more! You, Curt, who believe in God, give Him thanks on my behalf. Thank Him for my liberation from the tower, from the wolf, from the vampire!
ALICE. [_With her face close to the_ CAPTAIN's] Where is your own strength now? Tell me? Where is your energy? [_The_ CAPTAIN, _speechless, spits in her face_] Oh, you can still squirt venom, you viper--then I'll tear the tongue out of your throat! [_Cuffs him on the ear_] The head is off, but still it blushes!--O, Judith, glorious girl, whom I have carried like vengeance under my heart--you, you have set us free, all of us!--? If you have more heads than one, Hydra, we'll take them! [_Pulls his beard_] Think only that justice exists on the earth! Sometimes I dreamed it, but I could never believe it. Curt, ask God to pardon me for misjudging Him. Oh, there is justice! So I will become a sheep, too! Tell Him that, Curt! A little success makes us better, but adversity alone turns us into wolves.