RITA. And that you never told Asta and me?
ALLMERS. Yes.
RITA. Oh, you are so silent about everything. You ought not to be.
ALLMERS. Sit down there—and I will tell you about it.
RITA. Yes, yes—tell me!
[She sits on the bench beside the summer-house.]
ALLMERS. I was alone up there, in the heart of the great mountains. I came to a wide, dreary mountain lake; and that lake I had to cross. But I could not—for there was neither a boat nor anyone there.
RITA. Well? And then?
ALLMERS. Then I went without any guidance into a side valley. I thought that by that way I could push on over the heights and between the peaks—and then down again on the other side of the lake.
RITA. Oh, and you lost yourself, Alfred!