ALICE. If only he does not learn of it, for then he would kill me.
CURT. [Looking out through the window] Look, he stands right in the wind out there on the rampart.
ALICE. He is to be pitied—for being what he is!
CURT. Both of you are to be pitied! But what can be done?
ALICE. I don't know—The mail brought a batch of unpaid bills also, and those he did not see.
CURT. It may be fortunate to escape seeing things at times.
ALICE. [At the window] He has unbuttoned his cloak and lets the wind strike his chest. Now he wants to die!
CURT. That is not what he wants, I think, for a while ago, when he felt his life slipping away, he grabbed hold of mine and began to stir in my affairs as if he wanted to crawl into me and live my life.
ALICE. That is just his vampire nature—to interfere with other people's destinies, to suck interest out of other existences, to regulate and arrange the doings of others, since he can find no interest whatever in his own life. And remember, Curt, don't ever admit him into your family life, don't ever make him acquainted with your friends, for he will take them away from you and make them his own. He is a perfect magician in this respect. Were he to meet your children, you would soon find them intimate with him, and he would be advising them and educating them to suit himself—but principally in opposition to your wishes.
CURT. Alice, was it not he who took my children away from me at the time of the divorce?