It's by the merest accident, you know …
HOFFMANN
[Excited.] Nothing pleasanter could have … Do take your things off, first of all! [He tries to help him off with his wallet.]—Nothing pleasanter or more unexpected could possibly—[he has relieved LOTH of his hat and cane and places both on a chair near the door]—could possibly have happened to me just now—[coming back]—no, decidedly, nothing.
LOTH
[Taking off his wallet himself.] It's by the merest chance that I've come upon you.
[He places his wallet on the table in the foreground.
HOFFMANN
Sit down. You must be tired. Do sit down—please! D'you remember when you used to come to see me you had a way of throwing yourself full-length on the sofa so that the springs groaned. Sometimes they broke, too. Very well, then, old fellow. Do as you used to do.
[MRS. KRAUSE'S face has taken on an expression of great astonishment. She has withdrawn. LOTH sits down on one of the chairs that stand around the table in the foreground.