ALICE. I don't quite understand--are they congratulating you because you are sick?
ALICE. Yes, we had a doctor here on the island who was so hated that when he left they gave a banquet--after him, and not for him!
CAPTAIN. Put the flowers in water--I am not easily caught, and all people are a lot of rabble, but, by heavens, these simple tributes are genuine--they cannot be anything but genuine!
CURT. [_Reading the telegram_] Judith says she cannot come because the steamer is held back by the storm.
CURT. Well, she asks her father not to drink so much.
CAPTAIN. Impudence! That's like children! That's my only beloved daughter--my Judith--my idol!
CAPTAIN. Such is life. Such are its best joys--Hell!
ALICE. Now you get the harvest of your sowing. You have set her against her own mother and now she turns against the father. Tell me, then, that there is no God!
CAPTAIN. [_To_ CURT] What does the Colonel say?
CURT. He grants leave of absence without any comment.
CAPTAIN. Leave of absence? I have not asked for it.
ALICE. Do you see, Curt, that for this man exist no laws, no constitutions, no prescribed human order? He stands above everything and everybody. The universe is created for his private use. The sun and the moon pursue their courses in order to spread his glory among the stars. Such is this man: this insignificant captain, who could not even reach the rank of major, and at whose strutting everybody laughs, while he thinks himself feared; this poor wretch who is afraid in the dark and believes in barometers: and all this in conjunction with and having for its climax--a barrowful of manure that is not even prime quality!
CAPTAIN. [_Fanning himself with a bunch of flowers, conceitedly, without listening to_ ALICE] Have you asked Curt to breakfast?
CAPTAIN. Get us, then, at once two nice tenderloin steaks.
CAPTAIN. Oh, you want one also? Well, make it three then.
ALICE. Where am I to get them? Last night you asked Curt to supper, and there was not a crust of bread in the house. Curt has been awake all night without anything to eat, and he has had no coffee because there is none in the house and the credit is gone.
CAPTAIN. She is angry at me for not dying yesterday.
ALICE. No, for not dying twenty-five years ago--for not dying before you were born!