LOTH
Whose, _whose_ child was that?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
The child of Hoffmann and of the same woman who again, up there ... And
she drinks too, drinks to the point of unconsciousness, drinks whatever
she can get hold of!
LOTH
So it's not, it's not inherited from Hoffmann?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Not at all. That's the tragic aspect of the man! He suffers under it as
much as he is capable of suffering. To be sure, he knew that he was
marrying into a family of dipsomaniacs. The old farmer simply spends his
life in the tavern.
LOTH
Then, to be sure--I understand many things--No, everything, rather ...
everything! [_After a heavy silence._] Then her life here, Helen's life,
is a ... how shall I express it? I have no words for it; it's ...
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Utterly horrible. I can judge of that. And I understood from the
beginning how you should cling to her. But, as I said ...
LOTH
It's enough. I understand ... But doesn't...? Couldn't one perhaps
persuade Hoffmann to do something? She ought to be removed from all this
foulness.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Hoffmann?
LOTH
Yes, Hoffmann.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
You don't know him. I don't believe that he has ruined her already, but
he has ruined her reputation even now.
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