GERDA. Will he turn me out?
CONSUL. Find out for yourself! You take no risk, as he is always polite.
GERDA. I didn't make that centrepiece——
CONSUL. That is to say, you risk his asking you for the child.
GERDA. But it was he who should help me find it again——
CONSUL. Where do you think Fischer has gone, and what can be the purpose of his flight?
GERDA. To get away from the unpleasant neighbourhood, first of all; then to make me run after him. And he wanted the girl as a hostage, of course.
CONSUL. As to the ballet—that's something the father must not know, for he hates music-halls.
GERDA. [Sitting down in front of the chess-board and beginning, absent-mindedly, to arrange the pieces] Music-halls—oh, I have been there myself.
CONSUL. You?