CURT. I am going to stay up with you all night. Alice is going to bed.

CAPTAIN. Good night then, Alice.

ALICE. [To CURT] Good night, Curt.

CURT. Good night.

[ALICE goes out.

CURT. [Takes a chair and sits down beside the couch] Don't you want to take off your boots?

CAPTAIN. No, a warrior should always be armed.

CURT. Are you expecting a battle then?

CAPTAIN. Perhaps! [Rising up in bed] Curt, you are the only human being to whom I ever disclosed anything of myself. Listen to me!—If I die to-night—look after my children!

CURT. I will do so.