Allmers.
[Gazing straight before him.] When I look back over my life—and my fortunes—for the last ten or eleven years, it seems to me almost like a fairy-tale or a dream. Don't you think so too, Asta?
Asta.
Yes, in many ways I think so.
Allmers.
[Continuing.] When I remember what we two used to be, Asta—we two poor orphan children
Rita.
[Impatiently.] Oh, that is such an old, old story.
Allmers.
[Not listening to her.] And now here I am in comfort and luxury. I have been able to follow my vocation. I have been able to work and study—just as I had always longed to. [Holds out his hand.] And all this great—this fabulous good fortune we owe to you, my dearest Rita.
Rita.
[Half playfully, half angrily, slaps his hand.] Oh, I do wish you would stop talking like that.
Allmers.
I speak of it only as a sort of introduction.
Rita.
Then do skip the introduction!
