[_Having drunk, with jolly expansiveness._] I ain't goin' to Hamburg no more now. The boss c'n send some other feller there. I been quarrelin' with him about that these three days. I gotta take up my hat right now an' go there; he axed me to come roun' to his office again at six. If he don' want to give in, he needn't. It won't never do for the father of a family to be forever an' a day away from his family ... I got a friend--why, all I gotta do's to say the word 'n I c'n get work on the layin' o' the foundations o' the new houses o' Parliament. Twelve years I been workin' for this same boss! I c'n afford to make a change some time. HASSENREUTER [_Pats JOHN'S shoulder._] Quite of your opinion, quite! Our family life is something that neither money nor kind words can buy of us. _ERICH SPITTA enters. His hat is soiled; his clothes show traces of mud. His tie is gone. He looks pale and excited and is busy wiping his hands with his handkerchief._ SPITTA Beg pardon, but I wonder if I could brush up here a little, Mrs. John? HASSENREUTER Ha, ha, ha! For heaven's sake, what have you been up to, my good Spitta? SPITTA I only escorted a lady home, Mr. Hassenreuter--nothing else! HASSENREUTER [_Who has joined in the general, outburst of laughter called forth by SPITTA'S explanation._] Well now, listen here! You blandly say: Nothing else! And you announce it publicly here before all these people? SPITTA [_In consternation._] Why not? The lady in question, was very well dressed; I've often seen her on the stairs of this house, and she unfortunately met with an accident on the street. HASSENREUTER You don't say so? Tell us about it, dear Spitta! Apparently the lady inflicted spots on your clothes and scratches on your hands. SPITTA Oh, no. That was probably the fault of the mob. The lady had an attack of some kind. The policeman caught hold of her so awkwardly that she slipped down in the middle of the street immediately in front of two omnibus horses. I simply couldn't bear to see that, although I admit that the function of the Good Samaritan is, as a rule, beneath the dignity of well-dressed people on the public streets. _MRS. JOHN wheels the perambulator behind the partition and reappears with a basin full of water, which she places on a chair._ HASSENREUTER Did the lady, by any chance, belong to that international high society which we either regulate or segregate? SPITTA