STARCK. Who would want me?
CONSUL. Have you ever tried?
STARCK. What would be the use of it?
CONSUL. Oh—well!
At this moment a long-drawn "O-oh" is heard from the apartment on the second floor.
STARCK. What, in the name of Heaven, are they up to in that place? Are they killing each other?
CONSUL. I don't like this new and unknown element that has come into the house. It is pressing on us like a red thunder-cloud. What kind of people are they? Where do they come from? What do they want here?
STARCK. It's so very dangerous to delve in other people's affairs—you get mixed up in them yourself——
CONSUL. Do you know anything about them?
STARCK. No, I don't know anything at all.