_LOTH drinks in the DOCTOR'S words with every evidence of profound and terrible emotion.

DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG

The silly little chap grabbed for the vinegar bottle, thinking his beloved rum was in it. The bottle fell and the child tumbled on the broken glass. Down here, you see, the vena saphena, was completely severed.

LOTH

Whose, whose child was that?

DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG

The child of Hoffmann and of the same woman who again, up there … And she drinks too, drinks to the point of unconsciousness, drinks whatever she can get hold of!

LOTH

So it's not, it's not inherited from Hoffmann?

DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG