Adolf. You take care!
Thekla. What of?
Adolf. Of this knife.
[Goes towards her.]
Thekla [flippantly]. Little brother shouldn't play with such dangerous toys.
[She passes by him behind the sofa.]
Adolf. I'm not playing any longer.
Thekla [leaning on the arm of the sofa]. Really, he's serious, is he, quite serious? Then I'll jolly well show you—that you made a mistake. I mean—you'll never see it yourself, you'll never know it. The whole world will be up to it, but you jolly well won't, you'll have suspicions and surmises and you won't enjoy a single hour of peace. You will have the consciousness of being ridiculous and of being deceived, but you'll never have proofs in your hand, because a husband never manages to get them. [She makes a few steps to the right in front of him and toward him.] That will teach you to know me.
Adolf [sits down in his previous place by the table on the left]. You hate me.
Thekla. No, I don't hate you, nor do I think that I could ever get to hate you. Simply because you're a child.