LASKOWSKI. Me? Not conscious?... Don't I know. Word for word! Shall I tell you, dearie? What you said and what I said and what Paul said to you ... Antoinette, how are you?... How are you Antoinette? (Short laugh.) Well, do I know, dearie? Did I hold on to it? PAUL. One must excuse you in your condition. VON TIEDEMANN. Don't worry about _him_, madam. He's one of these fellows with a big purse. He may chuckle! I can foresee that he will buy up the whole county some day! LASKOWSKI. Just what I'll do. What's the price of the world! Five bits a fling!... We can still raise that much. The more foolish the farmer, the bigger his spuds! MERTENS. His sugar-beets! LASKOWSKI. I say, boys!... Do you know how many tons of sugar-beets I raised to the acre! Last round? VON TIEDEMANN. Now, don't Spread it on! LASKOWSKI (jumps up). Fellows! My word of honor! I'm not lying! Thirty-five tons an acre! Who can match that? Nobody can! I can! I'm a devil of a fellow, I've always said so, ain't I, dearie? You know! (He strikes his chest and sits down.) VON TIEDEMANN. Thirty-five ton per acre! Ridiculous! MERTENS. I can honestly swear to the contrary! LASKOWSKI. And your dad, I tell you he was mad! He just couldn't look at me! But I don't bear him any grudge! I'm a man of honor! Shake hands, old chap! You say so, ain't I a man of honor? Put 'er there! Man of honor face to face with man of honor. But you must look at me, man alive! Or I won't believe you! (He extends his hand over to PAUL.) PAUL (negative gesture). Never mind! Just believe me. LASKOWSKI (looks at ANTOINETTE). Dearie, don't make such a face! Eat! Eat!... So you can get strong, so you can survive your poor Heliodor! (All except PAUL and ANTOINETTE laugh.) DR. BODENSTEIN (to MERTENS). Incipient delirium! [MRS. VON TIEDEMANN whispers something into MERTENS' ear.] PAUL (to ANTOINETTE). You really haven't taken a thing, madam! ANTOINETTE. I am not hungry. But will the ladies and gentlemen not take something more? A little more of the dessert, perhaps. VON TIEDEMANN. No, thanks, madam! I can't eat another thing! Not if I try! Or I'll burst! MRS. VON TIEDEMANN (reproachfully). Fritz! DR. BODENSTEIN. Albumen! Fat! Carbo-hydrates! _In hoc signo vinces._ MERTENS. And now a little cup of coffee! VON TIEDEMANN. And a cock-tail! DR. BODENSTEIN. To retard metabolism! PAUL. The coffee will be here directly! [AUNT CLARA appears upon the scene and talks to ANTOINETTE in an undertone.] LASKOWSKI (who has been dozing, wakes up again, takes his glass and addresses PAUL). You know what I'de done, Paul, if I'd been your dad? ANTOINETTE (nodding to AUNT CLARA). Miss Clara tells me that the coffee is in the next room. Whenever the ladies and gentlemen are so disposed ... LASKOWSKI (interrupts). If I'de been your father, old chap, I'd drunk all of my claret before my wind-up! I wouldn't 'a left a drop! SCHROCK'S (voice). Greedy gut!