n town
and the accompaniment is exceedingly original.

COLONEL (_aside_).

It is enough to drive one mad. [_Aloud_.] Show the gentlemen in!

_Exit_ CARL. _At the end of the verse enter_ FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and
two other gentlemen_.

FRITZ KLEINMICHEL.

Colonel, the local glee club asks to be allowed to sing you some
songs--kindly listen to the little serenade as a feeble expression of
the general veneration and love.

COLONEL.

Gentlemen, I regret exceedingly that a case of illness in my family
makes it desirable for me to have you curtail your artistic
performance. I thank you for your intentions, and beg you will sing to
Professor Oldendorf the songs you had designed for me.

FRITZ KLEINMICHEL.

We considered it our duty first to greet you before visiting your
friend. In order not to disturb invalids, we will, with your
permission, place ourselves further away from the house, in the
garden.

COLONEL.

Do as you please.

[FRITZ KLEINMICHEL _and the two others leave_.]

Is this act, too, an invention of yours?

BOLZ (_with a bow_).

Partially at least. But you are too kind, Colonel, if you look upon me
as the sole originator of all these demonstrations. My share in it is
really a small one. I have done nothing but edit public opinion a
little; all these different people are not dolls, which a skilful
puppet-man can move around by pulling wires. These are all voices of
capable and honorable persons, and what they have said to you is
actually the general opinion of the town--that is to say, the
conviction of the better and more sensible elements in the town. Were
that not the case I should have labored quite in vain with these good
people to bring a single one of them into your house.

COLONEL.

He is right again, and I am always in the wrong!

BOLZ (_very courteously_).

Permit me to explain further, that I consider these tender expressions
of general regard out of place now, and that I deeply regret my share
in them. Today at least, no friend of Oldendorf has any occasion to
praise your chivalrous sentiments or your self-effacement.

COLONEL (_going toward him_).

Doctor Bolz, you use the privilege of your profession to speak
recklessly, and are insulting outsiders in a way that exhausts my
patience. You are in my house, and it is a customary social amenity to
respect the domicile of one's opponent.

BOLZ (_leaning on a chair, good-naturedly_).

If you mean by that that you have a right