HELEN
Why do you think that _that_ is particularly interesting?
LOTH
Because it is not the usual thing. The rest of us look that way only
sometimes and by no means always.
HELEN
Yes, but why do they always look so ... so full of hatred and so surly?
There must be some reason for that.
LOTH
Just so. And it is this very reason that I am anxious to discover.
HELEN
Oh, don't!... Now you're making fun of me! What good would it do you,
even if you knew that?
LOTH
One might perhaps find ways and means to remove the cause that makes
these people so joyless and so full of hatred; one might perhaps make
them happier.
HELEN
[_Slightly confused._] I must confess freely that now ... And yet perhaps
just now I begin to understand you a little. Only it is so strange, so
new, so utterly new ...
HOFFMANN
[_Entering through the door at the right. He has a number of letters in
his hand._] Well, here I am again.--Edward, see to it that these letters
reach the post-office before eight o'clock. [_He hands the letters to the
servant, who withdraws._] Well, dear people, now we can eat! Outrageously
hot here! September and such heat! [_He lifts a bottle of champagne from
the cooler.
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