CAPTAIN. I am going to have one myself.
ALICE. But we are three here.
CAPTAIN. Oh, you want one also? Well, make it three then.
ALICE. Where am I to get them? Last night you asked Curt to supper, and there was not a crust of bread in the house. Curt has been awake all night without anything to eat, and he has had no coffee because there is none in the house and the credit is gone.
CAPTAIN. She is angry at me for not dying yesterday.
ALICE. No, for not dying twenty-five years ago—for not dying before you were born!
CAPTAIN. [To CURT] Listen to her! That's what happens when you institute a marriage, my dear Curt. And it is perfectly clear that it was not instituted in heaven.
[ALICE and CURT look at each other meaningly.
CAPTAIN. [Rises and goes toward the door] However, say what you will, now I am going on duty. [Puts on an old-fashioned helmet with a brush crest, girds on the sabre, and shoulders his cloak] If anybody calls for me, I am at the battery. [ALICE and CURT try vainly to hold him back] Stand aside!
[Goes out.