ASTA. Here! With Rita, do you mean?
ALLMERS. Yes. Rita and I cannot go on living together.
ASTA. [Seizes his arm and shakes it.] Oh, Alfred—don't say anything so terrible!
ALLMERS. It is the truth. I am telling you. We are making each other wicked and hateful.
ASTA. [With painful emotion.] I had never—never dreamt of anything like this!
ALLMERS. I did not realise it either, till to-day.
ASTA. And now you want to—! What is it you really want, Alfred?
ALLMERS. I want to get away from everything here—far, far away from it all.
ASTA. And to stand quite alone in the world?
ALLMERS. [Nods.] As I used to, before, yes.