Kellinghausen.
Do any of you know what he's driving at?
Brachtmann.
Yes.
Kellinghausen.
Richard, what does this mean? What is going on behind my back? You call yourself my friend--why have you kept me in the dark?
Richard (very quietly).
In the first place, dear Michael, we only heard of the business an hour or two ago; in the second place (as he speaks, Beata enters from behind), I am mixed up in it myself.
Kellinghausen.
You? In a slander that concerns me? (Richard nods without speaking.) Then there was all the more reason----