Beermann.  The same thing?  Believe me, all this masking confuses me. [Drinks.]

Effie [calling across the tea table where she has been standing with others].  Papa!  Listen to Frau Bolland.  She also says that the Indian Dancer is so interesting.

Frau Bolland.  Positively won—­derful, Herr Bolland!  You can conceive the entire spirit of the Orient,

Effie.  Why haven’t we gone to see her?

Frau Bolland.  You surely ought to go.  Professor Stohr—­you know him—­told me he never in his life saw anything so gorgeous.

Fraulein Koch-Pinneberg.  She’s so picturesque in her greenish gowns.

Frau Bolland.  I did not know that the Hindoos could be so charming.

Beermann.  We’ll have a look at her some night.

Effie.  But to-morrow night is her last appearance.

Beermann [going to the humidor].  Very well darling.  Will you remind me of it to-morrow? [Taking a box of cigars offers one to Dobler who is standing near him.] Smoke?

Dobler [taking one].  Thanks.  But I am not accustomed to the imported ones.

Beermann [patronizingly].  You’ll get used to high living soon enough.

Bolland [to Dobler].  How long have you been in the city now?

Dobler.  Two years.

Bolland.  And before that you were in ... eh?

Frau Bolland.  You must excuse him Herr Dobler.  Why in
Unterschlettenbach, dear ...  You know that!

Bolland [correcting himself].  Certainly.  Bit of literary history. 
Mighty interesting place that Unterschlettenbach ... eh?

Dobler.  Hardly, Herr Kommerzienrat.  Poor and unsanitary.  Most of its inhabitants are miners.

Bolland.  Fancy that!  And I never knew it.  Full of miners!  Tell me though, what do you think of our set here ...?  How do you like this well-to-do circle ... the big city ... wealthy surroundings?

Dobler [lighting a cigar].  I like it well enough.  But I think I will always feel out of place here.

Bolland.  Can’t get used to it?

Dobler.  Everything is so different.  It seems to me at times as though I had suddenly entered a beautiful house while outdoors my old comrade was awaiting me patiently—­the open road.

Frau Bolland.  Isn’t that won—­derful?  So very re-a-lis-tic-ally put!  I can just picture it.  Oh Herr Dobler ...  I must tell you:  your novel—­my husband and I talk about it all day long.

Bolland.  Tell me though—­did you yourself experience the life of that young man you describe?

Dobler.  It’s the story of my youth.

Bolland.  But it’s somewhat colored by poetic imagination?

Dobler.  N—–­o.