DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG

Yes, a short time after we'd given up living together. So I took up medicine at Zuerich, first simply so as to have something against a time of need. But then the thing began to interest me, and now I'm a doctor, heart and soul.

LOTH

And about this place. How did you get here?

DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG

Very simply. When I got through I said to myself: first of all you've got to have a sufficient pile. I thought of America, South and North America, of Africa, Australia and the isles of the sea … In the end it occurred to me, however, that my escapade had become outlawed; and so I made up my mind to creep back into the old trap.

LOTH

And how about your Swiss examinations?

DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG

Why, I simply had to go through the whole rigmarole once more.