This scene takes place in the second-floor room of the Hotel Lazu in Budapest, Hungary. It is the beginning of a conversation between a young woman and a young man who works as a porter. The porter tells the young man that he is a ward and that he has come to help him with his duties. The young man asks the porter if he is drunk, and the porter tells him he is. He then asks the young woman if she has been studying for her exams, and she says yes, and that she will start next week. She then tells the porter that her parents have reduced her allowance and forbid her from doing any part-time work.