GUSTAV. As enemies then!--What did you say that provoked her?
ADOLPH. You are terrible. I am afraid of you. How could you know?
GUSTAV. It's very simple: I possess three known factors, and with
their help I figure out the unknown one. What did you say to her?
ADOLPH. I said--two words only, but they were dreadful, and I
regret them--regret them very much.
GUSTAV. Don't do it! Tell me now?
ADOLPH. I said: "Old flirt!"
GUSTAV. What more did you say?
ADOLPH. Nothing at all.
GUSTAV. Yes, you did, but you have forgotten it--perhaps because
you don't dare remember it. You have put it away in a secret
drawer, but you have got to open it now!
ADOLPH. I can't remember!
GUSTAV. But I know. This is what you said: "You ought to be
ashamed of flirting when you are too old to have any more lovers!"
ADOLPH. Did I say that? I must have said it!--But how can you know
that I did?
GUSTAV. I heard her tell the story on board the boat as I came
here.
ADOLPH. To whom?
GUSTAV. To four young men who formed her company. She is already
developing a taste for chaste young men, just like--
ADOLPH. But there is nothing wrong in that?
GUSTAV.
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