BEERMANN [greatly relieved]. Well, calm yourself, Herr Assessor. It will come out right in the end.
STROEBEL [downcast]. No, it can never come out right.
BEERMANN [soothingly]. Sit down nicely in this chair—so! I'll sit next to you here—so! ... And now let us see about it. [They seat themselves on the left, upstage.] Do you know, I am beginning to feel much better already. So the diary is in your desk.
STROEBEL. For my part, let it be buried a thousand feet deep. For God's sake, don't talk of it any more. It takes us away from my subject.
BEERMANN. That's right. We shan't talk of it any more. Now let me see, I called on you about the Hauteville case....
STROEBEL. And on this occasion you demanded that the police suppress the matter.
BEERMANN. Quite true, I did that.
STROEBEL. There you are! And that's why I thought you were mostly interested in avoiding scandal. BEERMANN. In what way?
STROEBEL. Not personally, but from a wholly humanitarian or civic standpoint. You even told me that just because of your position as President of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, you regarded it as your duty to keep this matter out of the courts.
BEERMANN. Only for the common welfare.