CHRISTINE. If you have finished now, I shall ask permission to tell in a single word what Luther is—just one word!

OLAVUS. Oh, do, before you burst!

CHRISTINE. Luther is dead!

OLAVUS. Dead?

CHRISTINE. That's what my brother-in-law writes me in this letter from Magdeburg.

OLAVUS. [Rising] Dead! [To REGINALD] My poor Alexander, what will you pull to pieces now?

REGINALD. First the universe, and then myself.

OLAVUS. [Pushing him toward the door at the left] Go ahead, then, but begin with yourself. The universe will always remain.

CHRISTINE. [As she rises and is about to go out with REGINALD] Will there be peace on earth now?

OLAVUS. That will never be!—Let me have that letter.