RITA. Ugh! I feel as if that horrible old woman had brought a sort of graveyard smell with her.
ALLMERS. Yes, she was rather horrible.
RITA. I felt almost sick while she was in the room.
ALLMERS. However, I can very well understand the sort of spellbound fascination that she talked about. The loneliness of the mountain-peaks and of the great waste places has something of the same magic about it.
ASTA. [Looks attentively at him.] What is it that has happened to you, Alfred?
ALLMERS. [Smiling.] To me?
ASTA. Yes, something has happened—something seems almost to have transformed you. Rita noticed it too.
RITA. Yes, I saw it the moment you came. A change for the better, I hope, Alfred?
ALLMERS. It ought to be for the better. And it must and shall come to good.
RITA. [With an outburst.] You have had some adventure on your journey! Don't deny it! I can see it in your face!