ALBERT—No, no, these astronomical impertinences are very interesting.
[_To HYACINTH._] He sat down with us quite unassumingly and then with a
flourish he lifted us up to the sky ... and he stayed up there ... and
dropped me with a thud.... [_To AGI._] But you spoke with spirit. Very
smart.... Always higher, higher——
ALEXANDRA—Pardon me, but your sarcastic criticism is unjust, Albert. He
is not like us.
ALBERT—I noticed that.
ALEXANDRA—[_More and more excitedly._] He is a scientist; he is a free
spirit.... He has the right to speak more freely than we....
ALBERT—You defend his bad manners just as graciously as you suffered them
a while ago. You are a brave and clever girl—a perfect martyr. I have
just learned from your mother that you ... [_sarcastically_] were the
innocent target of certain unwelcome attentions ... and that you have
endured them with such patience, such goodness....
ALEXANDRA—[_Very agitated; looks from ALBERT to AGI in fear that they
will quarrel._] Mother is mistaken, Albert. And you judge him wrongly.
You don’t understand him.
ALBERT—[_Ironically._] It is not easy to understand him.
ALEXANDRA—[_Excitedly._] You can’t possibly understand him. [_ALBERT
laughs mockingly._] Don’t laugh at him, Albert. He is a scientist and a
poet.... He is an astronomer.
ALBERT—An ill-bred little astronomer.
AGI—[_With a threatening movement._] Your highness!
ALEXANDRA—[_Trembling with excitement; passionately._] Albert, you are
going too far. You must not say that.
ALBERT—But he is.