STRAMMFEST. Heaven grant you may be right! But that is not the
worst. She had eloped with a young officer. Eloped, Schneidekind,
eloped!

SCHNEIDEKIND [not particularly impressed]. Yes, Sir.

STRAMMFEST. Annajanska, the beautiful, the innocent, my master's
daughter! [He buries his face in his hands.]

The telephone rings.

SCHNEIDEKIND [taking the receiver]. Yes: G.H.Q. Yes...Don't bawl:
I'm not a general. Who is it speaking?...Why didn't you say so?
don't you know your duty? Next time you will lose your
stripe...Oh, they've made you a colonel, have they? Well, they've
made me a field-marshal: now what have you to say?...Look here:
what did you ring up for? I can't spend the day here listening to
your cheek...What! the Grand Duchess [Strammfest starts.] Where
did you catch her?

STRAMMFEST [snatching the telephone and listening for the
answer]. Speak louder, will you: I am a General I know that, you
dolt. Have you captured the officer that was with her?...
Damnation! You shall answer for this: you let him go: he bribed
you. You must have seen him: the fellow is in the full dress
court uniform of the Panderobajensky Hussars. I give you twelve
hours to catch him or...what's that you say about the devil? Are
you swearing at me, you...Thousand thunders! [To Schneidekind.]
The swine says that the Grand Duchess is a devil incarnate. [Into