STROEBEL. I have taken Herr Beermann into our confidence.
SCHMETTAU. That was a very disagreeable mishap, was it not? Very bad. Whoever has any patriotism can realize it.
BEERMANN. Herr Baron was also ...
SCHMETTAU. Locked in the closet.
STROEBEL. Permit me to revert to the facts. I was just telling Herr Beermann that this Hauteville woman refuses to leave. She boasts that she has not the bail and even if she had it, she would not pay it.
SCHMETTAU. Confound her! She controls the situation.
STROEBEL. Now we come to the most difficult part of it. She says that if she is compelled to leave the city and is deprived of her livelihood, she wants proper damages for it. Of course I told the woman that this, to say the least, was an extortionate demand. Well then, she says, we will have a trial in court.
BEERMANN. The fox! She knows well that's out of the question.
SCHMETTAU. I am very grateful to you for these sentiments.
STROEBEL. I asked what she considered proper damages. "Ten thousand marks," she says. I almost lost my senses. With the necessary bail that would make Fifteen thousand marks.