CAPTAIN. [Rising] Yes, as the head of the family and your guardian, I look after the sacred interests of the family, and with iron hand I shall cut short every effort to break the family ties by means of criminal correspondence. Yah! [ALICE is crushed] I am not dead, you know, but don't take offence now because I am going to raise us all out of undeserved humility—undeserved on my own part, at least!
ALICE. Judith! Judith!
CAPTAIN. And Holofernes? I, perhaps? Pooh!
[Goes out through the background.
CURT. Who is that man?
ALICE. How can I tell?
CURT. We are beaten.
ALICE. Yes—beyond a doubt.
CURT. He has stripped me of everything, but so cleverly that I can accuse him of nothing.
ALICE. Why, no—you owe him a debt of gratitude instead!