Really?
[His embarrassment has now reached its highest point; MRS. KRAUSE coughs; HELEN still commands KAHL with her eyes. His whole body quivers with internal laughter, but he is still capable of enough self-command not to burst out.
LOTH
I'm surprised that you don't know this, well, one might almost say, this matchless example of his kind. It's the inn next door to your house. I was told that the man is an immensely rich farmer of this place who literally spends his days and years in the same tap-room drinking whiskey. Of course he's a mere animal to-day. Those frightfully vacant, drink-bleared eyes with which he stared at me!
[KAHL, who has restrained himself up to this point, breaks out in coarse, loud, irrepressible laughter, so that LOTH and HOFFMANN, dumb with astonishment, stare at him.
KAHL
[Stammering out through his laughter.] By the Almighty, that was…. Oh, sure, sure—that was the ol' man.
HELEN
[Jumps up, horrified and indignant. She crushes her napkin and flings it on the table.] You are…. [With a gesture of utter loathing.] Oh, you are….
[She withdraws swiftly.