Frau Holthoff. Just see the company in which she places our Ferdinand!
Helene. [Wearily] Oh, I am not trying to compliment Lassalle. The fact is, I dislike the man. His literary style is explosive; about all he seems to do is to paraphrase dear Karl Marx. Besides, he is a Jew——
Karl Marx. Gently—I am a Jew!
Helene. But you are different. Lassalle is aggressive, pushing, grasping—he has ego plus, and [With relaxing tension] all I want to say is that I am aweary of being accused of quoting Lassalle—that I do not know Lassalle, and what is more, I——
Frau Holthoff. Oh, you'll talk differently when you see him!
Helene. But surely you, too, do not make genius exempt from the moral code?
Doctor Haenle. Oh, some one has been telling you about Madame Hatzfeldt——
Helene. I know the undisputed facts.
Karl Marx. Which are that at nineteen years of age Ferdinand Lassalle became the legal counsel for Madame Hatzfeldt; that he fought her case through the courts for nine years; that he lost three times and finally won.