FRAU LINDEMANN. [Indignantly.] What? What do you mean by that!
ROSA. I was only thinking that a real princess wouldn't be coming to an inn like this. Real princesses won't lie on anything but silks and velvets. You just wait and see; it's a trick!
FRAU LINDEMANN. Are you going to pretend that the letter isn't genuine; that the letter is a forgery?
ROSA. Maybe one of the regular customers is playing a joke. That student, Herr Strübel, he's always joking. [Giggles.
FRAU LINDEMANN. When Herr Strübel makes a joke he makes a decent joke, a real, genuine joke. Oh, of course one has to pretend to be angry sometimes—but as for writing a forged letter—My land!—a letter with a gold crown on it—there! [She takes a letter from her waist and reads.] "This afternoon Her Highness, the Princess von Geldern, will stop at the Fairview Inn, to rest an hour or so before making the descent to the Springs. You are requested to have ready a quiet and comfortable room, to guard Her Highness from any annoying advances, and, above all, to maintain the strictest secrecy regarding this event, as otherwise the royal visit will not be repeated. Baroness von Brook, maid of honor to Her Highness." Now, what have you got to say?
ROSA. Herr Strübel lent me a book once. A maid of honor came into that, too. I'm sure it's a trick!
FRAU LINDEMANN. [Looking out toward the back.] Dear, dear, isn't that Herr Strübel now, coming up the hill? To-day of all days! What on earth does he always want up here?
ROSA. [Pointedly.] He's in such favor at the Inn. He won't be leaving here all day.
FRAU LINDEMANN. That won't do at all. He's got to be sent off. If I only knew how I could—Oh, ho! I'll be disagreeable to him—that's the only way to manage it!
[Strübel enters. He is a handsome young fellow without much polish, but cheerful, unaffected, entirely at his ease, and invariably good-natured.