[_To LOTH._] Do tell us why you don't drink? LOTH I'll do that very gladly, I ... HOFFMANN Oh, pshaw, old fellow. [_He takes the bottle from the servant in order to press the wine upon LOTH._] Just think how many merry hours we used to spend in the old days ... LOTH Please don't take the trouble ... HOFFMANN Drink to-day--this one time. LOTH It's quite useless. HOFFMANN As a special favour to me. [_HOFFMANN is about to pour the wine; LOTH resists. A slight conflict ensues._ LOTH No, no ... as I said before ... No!... no, thank you. HOFFMANN Don't be offended, but that, surely, is a mere foolish whim. KAHL [_To MRS. SPILLER._] A man that don't want nothin' has had enough. [_MRS. SPILLER nods resignedly._ HOFFMANN Anyhow, if you let a man have his will what more can you do for him. But I can tell you this much: without a glass of wine at dinner ... LOTH And a glass of beer at breakfast ... HOFFMANN Very well; why not? A glass of beer is a very healthy thing. LOTH And a nip of brandy now and then ... HOFFMANN Ah, well, if one couldn't get that much out of life! You'll never succeed in making an ascetic of me. You can't rob life of every stimulus. LOTH I'm not so sure of that. I am thoroughly content with the normal stimuli that reach my nervous system. HOFFMANN And a company that sit together with dry throats always has been and always will be a damnably weary and boresome one--with which, as a rule, I'd care to have very little to do. MRS. KRAUSE An' all them aristocrats drinks a whole lot. MRS. SPILLER [_Devoutly confirming her mistress' remark by an inclination of her body._] It is easy for gentlemen to drink a great deal of wine. LOTH [_To HOFFMANN._] My experience is quite to the contrary. As a rule, I am bored at a table where a great deal is drunk. HOFFMANN Oh, of course, it's got to be done in moderation. LOTH What do you call moderation? HOFFMANN Well, so long as one is in possession of one's senses ... LOTH Aha! Then you do admit that, in general, the consumption of alcohol does endanger the possession of one's senses? And for that reason, you see, I find tavern parties such a bore. HOFFMANN Are you afraid of losing possession of your senses so easily? KAHL T'-t'other d-day I drank a b-bottle o' R-Rhine-wine, _an'_ another o' ch-champagne. An' on top o' that an-n-nother o' B-Bordeaux--an' I wan't drunk by half. LOTH [_To HOFFMANN._] Oh no. You know well enough that it was I who took you fellows home when you'd been taking too much. And I still have the same tough old system. No, I'm not afraid on that account. HOFFMANN Well, then, what is it? HELEN Yes, why is it really that you don't drink? Do tell us! LOTH [_To HOFFMANN._] In order to satisfy you then: I do not drink to-day, if for no other reason but because I have given my word of honour to avoid spirituous liquors. HOFFMANN In other words, you've sunk to the level of a temperance fanatic. LOTH