"Pooh! Who, then?"
"Frau von Gropphusen!"
"Oh, I am not surprised. I except her. She is not a goose. But she's a crazy creature, all the same."
"Fatty! Don't be abominable! What has the poor woman done to you?"
Güntz rose from his chair. He took a few turns up and down the room to work off the stiffness, and grumbled on: "Done? To me? Nothing, of course. But she's hysterical out and out. That's it, hysterical!"
Kläre warmly took up the defence of the accused woman. "You may be right," she said, "but there's a reason for it."
"Certainly, certainly," answered Güntz. "Her husband is--forgive the coarse expression, Kläre--a regular hog. But an hysterical woman is an utter horror to me."
"I can only feel sorry for Frau von Gropphusen."
"And so do I. But I don't want her to hang on to you."
"She does not hang on to me," answered his wife simply.