"Switzerland: admirable country. Geneva: admirable country, ate veal, mutton, and beef. Italy: Rome. Rome!"

Tartelet: Ate veal, beef, and mutton.

Valdemar: No. I let you say that, just to be polite, but there isn't any there. All they eat there is goat's meat, the way they eat macaroni here.

Tartelet: And you're writing all these impressions for Miss Babichok?

Valdemar: Naturally. It will be interesting for her, and for Cousin Finderup,21 who stayed behind with her.

Tartelet: Aha! There's Cousin Finderup, is there?

Valdemar: Yes. He's a friend of mine. A good lad. He's supposed to write to me at each of my stops, with news of my fiancee. As soon as I've made my fortune....

Tartelet: Well, have you made it yet?

Valdemar: Not yet, but I'm not discouraged. I'll do it. For her, mind you, I'll undertake the impossible.

Tartelet: The impossible. That's exactly where we're going. Will you come with us?

Valdemar: Where?

Tartelet: There. Down below.

Valdemar: In the cellar?

Tartelet: To the center of the earth.

Valdemar: What for?

Tartelet: Why, to make our fortune. Isn't that the general storehouse of valuable things? Silver, gold, diamonds? Don't the most precious things in the world come from the bowels of the earth?

Valdemar: That's true, yes. It's the central treasure house. All you have to do is help yourself. But I don't have the key.

Tartelet: We have it!

Valdemar: And will you take me with you?

Tartelet: Yes, if you agree to drink a few drops of a certain potion. It will take you there in a second.

Valdemar: Will we be running?

Tartelet: Running on electricity.

Valdemar: And where is this potion?

Tartelet: I have a vial of it here. I drank some by mistake, but you'll drink it out of ambition.

Valdemar: Ah, Mr. Tartelet, I'm so fortunate to have met you! One drop. Just one little drop.

Tartelet: All right, but on one condition.

Valdemar: I agree to it in advance.

Tartelet: For two hours a day, you must place your feet in the third position.

Valdemar: What do you call the third position?

Tartelet: Look. Like this.

Valdemar (He is surprised, but obeys): All right, I'll do it. But what good does it do you if I place my feet in the third position? You're a professor.

Tartelet: A dancing teacher, my friend.

Valdemar: A dancing teacher! And I thought you were a scientist!

Tartelet: Let's go and have a drop of that potion.

Valdemar: Yes, yes, a drop. Let's go and have a drop. (Exit.)

(Enter George, Ox, and Eva)

George: Everything is ready. If there are risks to be run, you won't tremble?

Eva: No, of course not.

Ox (to George): Do you want to go?

George: Right now. There's the crater of Vesuvius, open to anyone brave enough to go down into it.