HOFFMANN
[_Soothingly._] Ah, mother, do me the favour....
MRS. KRAUSE
No-o! I don't see why. Such a goose like that ... That's an end o' all
justice ... such a sl...!
HOFFMANN
Oh, but mother, I must really beg of you to control--
MRS. KRAUSE
[_Doubly enraged._] Instead o' sich a crittur takin' a hand on the
farm.... God forbid! She pulls her sheets 'way over her ears. But her
Schillers and her Goethes and sich like stinkin' dogs--that can't do
nothin' but lie; they c'n turn her head. It's enough to make you sick!
[_She stops, quivering with rage._
HOFFMANN
[_Trying to pacify her._] Well, well--she will be all right now ...
perhaps it wasn't quite right ... perhaps....
[_He beckons to HELEN, who in her excitement has drawn aside, and the
girl, fighting down her tears, returns to her place._
HOFFMANN
[_Interrupting the painful silence that has followed, to LOTH._] Ah, yes
... what were we talking about? To be sure, of good old alcohol. [_He
raises his glass._] Well, mother, let us have peace. Come,--we'll drink a
toast in peace, and honour alcohol by being peaceful. [_MRS. KRAUSE,
although somewhat rebelliously, clinks glasses with him.
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