That I would spend the night at an inn…?
HOFFMANN
Nonsense … Of course not!… I mean what you mentioned a while ago—that business about your ridiculous descriptive essay?
LOTH
Why not?
HOFFMANN
I must confess that I thought you were jesting. [He gets up and speaks confidentially and half-humorously.] Now, you don't mean to say you're really capable of undermining the ground here where a friend of yours has been fortunate enough to get a firm foothold?
LOTH
You may take my word for it, Hoffmann; I had no idea that you were here.
If I had known that …