_
LOTH
I simply meant that you hadn't understood me in one particular respect.
HOFFMANN
[_Worrying his foot into the other shoe._] Ouch! There! [_He rises and
stamps his feet._] There we are. Nothing is more disagreeable than tight
shoes ... What were you saying just now?
LOTH
You were speaking of my departure ...
HOFFMANN
Well?
LOTH
But I thought I had explained that I must stay here for a specific
purpose.
HOFFMANN
[_In extreme consternation and thoroughly indignant at once._] Look
here!... That comes near being caddish!--Don't you know what you owe me
as your friend?
LOTH
Not, I hope, the betrayal of my cause!
HOFFMANN
[_Beside himself._] Well then--in that case--I haven't the slightest
motive for treating you as a friend. And so I tell you that I consider
your appearance and demeanour here--to put it mildly--incredibly
impudent.
LOTH
[_Quite calmly._] Perhaps you'll explain what gives you the right to use
such epithets ...
HOFFMANN
Yon want an explanation of that? That is going to an extreme! Not to feel
a thing like that it's necessary to have a rhinoceros-hide instead of
skin on one's back! You come here, enjoy my hospitality, thresh out a few
of your thread-bare phrases, turn my sister-in-law's head, go on about
old friendship and other pleasant things, and then you tell me quite
coolly: you're going to write a descriptive pamphlet about the local
conditions.
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