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(aside): A professor! He's a scientist! (Aloud) What country
are you from, sir?
    Tartelet: I'm French. I was born in Asnieres.''
    Valdemar: Asnieres. Ah, yes, Asnieres de Bigorre.'6 I know that place.
    Tartelet: No you don't.
    Valdemar: Are you married, Mr. Tartelet?
    Tartelet: No, why do you ask?
    Valdemar: Then you don't have any little Tartelets?
    Tartelet: No.
    Valdemar (laughs): No little Tarts?
    Tartelet: No little.... (Aside) Who is this big oaf? (He looks at
Valdemar's feet) Ah, those feet!

    Valdemar: I beg your pardon?
    Tartelet: Out, young man, out.
    Valdemar (surprised): Out? He's sending me away. He wants to be
alone.
    Tartelet: Where are you going?
    Valdemar: You told me to go out.
    Tartelet: I meant you should point your toes out. It's what we call the
choreographic angle.
    Valdemar: The what?
    Tartelet (touching him with the tip of his bow): Farther apart. Farther,
farther. (Valdemar nearly falls down) That's fine, just like that.
    Valdemar: Oh, you think that's fine, do you? A funny kind of scientist you are!
    Tartelet: I have the honor of speaking to Mr.... ?
    Valdemar: Axel" Valdemar, from Copenhagen.
    Tartelet: Excellent! Well, Mr. Axel Vladimir...
    Valdemar: Excuse me, it's Valdemar.
    Tartelet: All right, all right.
    Valdemar: And you've come from ... ?
    Tartelet: From Aalborg.
    Valdemar: You came by train?
    Tartelet: No.
    Valdemar: By ship?
    Tartelet: No.
    Valdemar: By stage coach?
    Tartelet: No, I ran.

    Valdemar: You ran?
    Tartelet: On electricity.
    Valdemar: You ran on electricity!
    Tartelet: Yes.
    Valdemar: And where are you going?
    Tartelet (pointing to the ground): Down there!
    Valdemar: Into the cellar?
    Tartelet: Lower.
    Valdemar: Lower my voice? Why? Is anyone listening to us?
    Tartelet: Underground. To the center.
    Valdemar: To the center of the earth?
    Tartelet: Through the crater.
    Valdemar: That's not possible.
    Tartelet: It's not possible, but we'll do it, my friend. Your feet! (Correcting his position) Your feet!
    Valdemar: (Aside) Again! A funny kind of scientist he is!
    Tartelet: And you, Mr. Vladimir?
    Valdemar: Val ... demar, if you please.
    Tartelet: Very well. Now it's your turn to tell me about yourself.
Where are you going, Mr. Vladimir?
    Valdemar (aside): He insists on calling me Vladimir! (Aloud) I'm
going to a place, Mr. Tartelet, where a man can make his fortune.
    Tartelet: That's a place I haven't found yet.
    Valdemar: You see, I'm in love with a charming young lady in Copenhagen, Miss Babichok.18

    Tartelet: And naturally, Miss Babichok is not in love with you, Mr.
Vladimir.
    Valdemar: Vladimir again! I told you my name is Valdemar.
    Tartelet: Ah! Excuse me, young man. It's just that there are some
names I can't manage to pronounce, and I don't think I'd ever be
able to say yours. I'd rather call you Matthew. Is that all right?
    Valdemar: Matthew suits me fine. I once had a good friend named
Matthew.
    Tartelet: So did I.
    Valdemar: He was an astronomer.
    Tartelet: Matthew Laensberg, it was. You said your name is
Valdemar?
    Valdemar: Oh, so you can say it now. Good!
    Tartelet: Excuse me, I was mistaken. You were saying that Babichok...?
    Valdemar: Is madly in love with me. Ah! What a woman! What a
soul! What a heart! And beautiful! When I think about it, I get
palpitations19-right here. (With great feeling) Do you know about
palpitations? I think you call them "battements" in French.
    Tartelet: Do I know about battements? Of course. In ballet there are
big ones and small ones.
    Valdemar (surprised): Big ones and small ones?
    Tartelet: You raise one leg and move it up and down, while the other
leg supports the whole weight of the body. Try it.
    Valdemar: Try what?
    Tartelet: Some battements. Like this. (He demonstrates) Try it.
    Valdemar: (Aside) He's not well! That isn't the kind of palpitation I'm
talking about. What a funny kind of scientist!

    Tartelet: I'm wondering why you haven't married Babichok, if she
loves you so much.
    Valdemar: There were two