- Blumel: [Nicole goes to knock on Colonel von Hohensee's door but it's opened suddenly by the Colonel's orderly, Blumel] Fraulein de Malvines
- [he announces to the Colonel. Nicole enters the room]
- Oberst: [He clicks his heels and bows to Nicole] Good evening, mademoiselle. I'm very pleased to see you.
- [to Blumel]
- Oberst: Bring den wein.
- Blumel: Ja wohl, Herr Oberst.
- Oberst: Well, have you been working hard?
- Nicole de Malvines: Hmmm.
- Oberst: Well, let's see what you have done since yesterday.
- [Goes to the piano]
- Oberst: You're not feeling tired now?
- [Nicole shakes her head]
- Oberst: When one does something one likes, one is not tired, eh?
- [Sees Nicole eyeing the food set out on the table]
- Oberst: Supper first, music afterwards.
- Nicole de Malvines: I'm not hungry.
- Oberst: You're very thin. Food is short, I know.
- [Grabs her wrist]
- Oberst: Come!
- [Leads her to the table]
- Oberst: See, cake, strawberries.
- Nicole de Malvines: And whipped cream
- [Smiling]
- Oberst: Perhaps you think I deal on the black market?
- Nicole de Malvines: No.
- Oberst: The cake and the butter come from my home on the Amber Coast.
- [Sniffs wine]
- Oberst: That is, on the Baltic Sea.
- [Pours wine]
- Oberst: I, too, have a castle there. Sometimes, I long to see it again.
- Nicole de Malvines: That is because...
- Oberst: Yes?
- Nicole de Malvines: Well, this is not your home. It's Phillipe's. He should be here, not you.
- Oberst: Phillipe?
- Nicole de Malvines: [Looks at the portrait over the fireplace] My cousin, Phillipe de Malvines.
- Oberst: [He turns and looks at the portrait] This gentleman? He has a fine face.
- [Serves Nicole a slice of cake]
- Oberst: Perhaps you think I enjoy thrusting myself on your hospitality?
- [Sits]
- Oberst: It is an unfortunate necessity, You have a beautiful country, mademoiselle. But, then, one's own country is always the most beautiful, don't you think? You don't know the Baltic coast?
- [Nicole shakes her head]
- Oberst: The sea is so blue there. I sometimes think that it is bluer than anywhere in the world. When I was a boy, I was certain of it. But, then, when one is young, one is certain of everything.
- [Winces as a spasm of pain crosses his face. He gets up and takes a tablet which he washes down with wine]
- Oberst: Forgive me, mademoiselle. I have an old wound that troubles me sometimes.
- Nicole de Malvines: [Looking concerned] Hmmm.
- Oberst: [Sits down again and eats some cake] Well, the cake should be good. It is baked for me by my old nurse. She looks after my estate when I'm away as I have no family. You think it's strange that I should have a nurse? We all begin the same and end the same.
- [Gets up]
- Oberst: Have some whipped cream. You're fond of whipped cream!
- [Nicole smiles as he serves her the cream]