Fritz.
I should think I did remember it.
Major (smiling).
And now, it seems to me, you have had some experience.
Fritz.
Oh, yes, there is no denying that.
Major (still smiling).
You have in the end had a so-called "passion," or are stuck in the middle of it; which of the two I don't know. Yet to judge from the discontinuance of your letters, the latter is the case.... Since we are here together as two men, I will not expostulate with you further.... You know perhaps the story of that abbé who, in society, once excused the absence of his bishop with the words: "Monseigneur est en retard à cause d'amour." To a certain extent, this holds good in every case.... But in spite of that, on your mother's account, don't do it again. That is my advice to you.... There! And now we'll enter at once upon the matter itself.... Just see, Frau von Lanski is, it will be admitted, a very charming woman, but----
Fritz (impetuously).
Father, how do you come to refer to Frau von Lanski?