(Heinecke _tiptoes out of the door._) Frau Heinecke. Wouldn't the Count like a piece of pound-cake? There is still some there. Trast. Thanks, I shall be glad--I certainly shall! (Frau Heinecke _curtseys out of the room._) Trast. You're pale, my boy, and your hands are shaking--what's wrong? Robert. Oh, nothing! The happiness--the excitement! It's only natural! Trast. Naturally! (_Aside_) He's lying! (_To_ Robert) Tell me, how long do you intend to stay here? I want to regulate my stay in this great Europe by that! Robert. That's impossible, my friend! Our ways will have to part! Trast. Nonsense! Robert. I shall ask my employer to give me a position here. The climate in India--you understand----? Trast. That's pleasant! He doesn't want to leave his mother's apron-strings again, eh? Robert. Don't make fun of me. Since we're going to part--I have to say it some time--I thank you, you kind old wicked fellow, for all you've done for me. It was the most fortunate moment of my life when you saw me standing feverishly behind my young employer in the Club at Buitenzorg, when he was throwing one hundred-gulden note after the other onto the green cloth. Trast. Why was I such a fool? If you're going to--Ugh! It isn't decent! Robert. Trast! don't hurt me. See, I owe everything to you. When I heard your name then--the name of Trast and Company that is known from Yokohama to Aden, I felt as though I were standing before the Kaiser himself! Trast. Kaiser, by the grace of coffee! Robert. Muhlingk's undertaking in Batavia was on the road to ruin that minute. Trast. No wonder, when it had the worst good-for-nothing in the Archipelago for its head. Robert. There was nothing ahead of me but failure and discharge. And then you took the poor home-sick clerk under your pinion, your name opened a hundred doors for me and I grew up into manhood under your care! And Herr Benno Muhlingk led his merry life as he pleased, and I ran the entire business.