LOTH
Please, Schimmel, express yourself more clearly.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
You must absolutely have dropped the chief demand which you used to make
in regard to marriage, although you did give me to understand that you
laid as much weight as ever on the propagation of a race sound in mind
and body.
LOTH
Dropped my demand...? Dropped it? But why should I?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
I see. Then there's nothing else left me but to ... Then you don't know
the conditions here. You do not know, for instance, that Hoffmann had a
son who perished through alcoholism at the age of three.
LOTH
Wha ... what d'you say?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
I'm sorry, Loth, but I've got to tell you. You can do afterward as you
please. But the thing was no joke. They were visiting here just as they
are now. They sent for me--half an hour too late. The little fellow had
bled to death long before I arrived.
_LOTH drinks in the DOCTOR'S _words with every evidence of profound
and terrible emotion._
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
The silly little chap grabbed for the vinegar bottle, thinking his
beloved rum was in it. The bottle fell and the child tumbled on the
broken glass. Down here, you see, the _vena saphena_, was completely
severed.
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