_Mopsa._ I wonder how you can be so childish! (_Smiling involuntarily._) It _was_ a rich beautiful time; but it was all over when you married. I hope you have never mentioned all that nonsense to SPRETA?
_Alfred._ I _may_ have. One _does_ tell one's wife some things--unintentionally. (_Clutching his forehead._) But oh, how _can_ I sit here and forget Little MOPSËMAN so completely? Have I _no_ heart?
_Mopsa._ If you have lost it, I think I know where it is. And you must surely give your grief a rest occasionally, too.
_Alfred._ I mustn't. I won't. I _will_ think of him.... By the way, are we to have dried fish for dinner _again?_... Oh, _there_ I go once more--in the very middle of my agony--just when I want to be torturing myself unspeakably with this gnawing crushing regret! What a wonderfully realistic touch it is, though, eh? So dramatic! But after all, I have _you_, MOPSA. I'm so glad of that!
_Mopsa_ (_looking earnestly at him_). Surely you mean dear SPRETA--not _me_, ALFRED?
_Alfred._ What relation is a wife to her husband? None whatever. Now you, MOPSA, _you_ are very nearly a second cousin once removed, not quite--because our family is a thing so entirely apart. We have always had vowels (the very _best_ vowels) for our initials, and the same coloured spectacles, and poor relations we invariably cut, and great thick works we never get really on with. You take after your mother, KAIA.
_Mopsa._ And my Aunt--she that was a Miss REBECCA WEST. I feel so irresistibly drawn to disturb other people's domestic harmony. But you must really forget me, and try to care for poor SPRETA a little.
_Alfred_ (_vehemently_). It's no use. I _can't_. You've entranced me so thoroughly. (_Helplessly._) I _knew_ you would! Do let me remain here with you!
_Mopsa_ (_looks warmly at him_). Of course, if you really mean _that_, I cannot pretend that such comradeship is----Hush! let go my hand--there's somebody coming!
[SPRETA _and_ BLOCHDRÄHN _enter in waterproofs, sharing the same umbrella_.
_Alfred_ (_annoyed_). Why do you come bothering here? Surely you must see that such an interruption is _most_ ill-timed.
_Spreta_ (_with a cutting laugh_). We did gather _that_, ALFRED. I came to see what you were about.