 He tells her that he has not found the distant sound that has been eluding him these past ten years, so he has gone in search of her instead and now wants to make her his wife.While Grete is still in love with Fritz and would like to be with him, she decides she must reveal to him that she is a courtesan, and then asks if he still wants to marry her.At first he does not believe it, but when the Count challenges him to a duel, Fritz, shaken and disappointed, refuses to duel and departs.