Struebel.
Oh, then you're a regular guest here at the Inn?
The Princess (_quickly_).
Yes--yes, of course.
Struebel.
And of course you drink the waters down below?
The Princess (_in a friendly way_).
Oh, yes, I drink the waters. And I'm taking the baths, too.
Struebel.
Two hundred metres up and down every time! Isn't that very hard on you?
Heavens! And you look so pale! See here, my dear young lady, don't you
do it. It would be better for you to go down there--that is-- Oh,
forgive me! I've been talking without thinking. Of course, you have
your own reasons-- It's decidedly cheaper up here. _I_ know how to
value a thing of that sort. I've never had any money in all my life!
The Princess (_trying to seem practical_).
But when one comes to a watering-place, one must have money.
Struebel (_slapping himself on the chest_).
Do I look to you as if I drank iron? Thank Heaven, I can't afford such
luxuries! No; I'm only a poor fellow who earns his miserable pittance
during vacation by acting as a private tutor--that's to say,
"miserable" is only a figure of speech, for in the morning I lie abed
until nine, at noon I eat five, and at night seven, courses; and as for
work, I really haven't a thing to do! My pupil is so anaemic--why,
compared to him, _you're_ fit for a circus rider!
The Princess (_laughing unrestrainedly_).
Oh, well, I'm rather glad I'm not one.
Struebel.
Dear me, it's a business like any other.
The Princess.
Like any other? Really, I didn't think that.
Struebel.
And pray, what did you think then?
The Princess.
Oh, I thought that they were--an entirely different sort of people.
Struebel.
My dear young lady, all people are "an entirely different sort." Of
course _we_ two aren't. We get along real well together, don't we? As
poor as church mice, both of us!
The Princess (_smiling reflectively_).
Who knows? Perhaps that's true.
Struebel (_kindly_).
Do you know what? If you want to stay down there--I'll tell you how one
can live cheaply. I have a friend, a student like myself. He's here to
mend up as you are. I feed him up at the house where I'm staying.
(_Frightened at a peculiar look of_ The Princess's.) Oh, but you
mustn't be-- No, I shouldn't have said it. It wasn't decent of me.
Only, let me tell you, I'm so glad to be able to help the poor fellow
out of my unexpected earnings, that I'd like to be shouting it from the
housetops all the time! Of course, you understand that, don't you?
The Princess.
You like to help people, then?
Struebel.
Surely--don't you?
The Princess (_reflecting_).
No. There's always so much talk about it, and the whole thing
immediately appears in the newspapers.
Struebel.
What? If you help some one, that appears----?
The Princess (_quickly correcting herself_).