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You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** Title: The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann Volume II Author: Gerhart Hauptmann Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9972] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on November 5, 2003] Edition: 10 Language: English Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1 *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRAMATIC WORKS OF *** Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Thomas Berger and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE DRAMATIC WORKS OF GERHART HAUPTMANN (Authorized Edition) Edited By LUDWIG LEWISOHN Assistant Professor in The Ohio State University VOLUME TWO: SOCIAL DRAMAS 1913 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION _By the Editor_. DRAYMAN HENSCHEL (Fuhrmann Henschel) _Translated by the Editor_. ROSE BERND (Rose Bernd) _Translated by the Editor_. THE RATS (Die Ratten) _Translated by the Editor_. INTRODUCTION The first volume of the present edition of Hauptmann's Dramatic Works is identical in content with the corresponding volume of the German edition. In the second volume _The Rats_ has been substituted for two early prose tales which lie outside of the scope of our undertaking. Hence these two volumes include that entire group of dramas which Hauptmann himself specifically calls social. This term must not, of course, be pressed too rigidly. Only in _Before Dawn_ and in _The Weavers_ can the dramatic situation be said to arise wholly from social conditions rather than from the fate of the individual. It is true, however, that in the seven plays thus far presented all characters are viewed primarily as, in a large measure, the results of their social environment. This environment is, in all cases, proportionately stressed. To exhibit it fully Hauptmann uses, beyond any other dramatist, passages which, though always dramatic in form, are narrative and, above all, descriptive in intention. The silent burden of these plays, the ceaseless implication of their fables, is the injustice and inhumanity of the social order. Hauptmann, however, has very little of the narrow and acrid temper of the special pleader. He is content to show humanity. It is quite conceivable that the future, forgetful of the special social problems and the humanitarian cult of to-day, may view these plays as simply bodying forth the passions and events that are timeless and constant in the inevitable march of human life. The tragedies of _Drayman Henschel_ and of _Rose Bernd_, at all events, stand in no need of the label of any decade. They move us by their breadth and energy and fundamental tenderness. No plays of Hauptmann produce more surely the impression of having been dipped from the fullness of life. One does not feel that these men and women--Hanne Schael and Siebenhaar, old Bernd and the Flamms--are called into a brief existence as foils or props of the protagonists. They led their lives before the plays began: they continue to live in the imagination long after Henschel and Rose have succumbed. How does Christopher Flamm, that excellent fellow and most breathing picture of the average man, adjust his affairs? He is fine enough to be permanently stirred by the tragedy he has earned, yet coarse enough to fall back into a merely sensuous life of meaningless pleasures. But at his side sits that exquisite monitor--his wife. The stream of their lives must flow on. And one asks how and whither? To apply such almost inevitable questions to Hauptmann's characters is to be struck at once by the exactness and largeness of his vision of men. Few other dramatists impress one with an equal sense of life's fullness and continuity, "The flowing, flowing, flowing of the world." The last play in this volume, _The Rats_, appeared in 1911, thirteen years after _Drayman Henschel_, nine years after _Rose Bernd_. A first reading of the book is apt to provoke disappointment and confusion. Upon a closer view, however, the play is seen to be both powerful in itself and important as a document in criticism and _Kulturgeschichte_. It stands alone among Hauptmann's works in its inclusion of two separate actions or plots--the tragedy of Mrs. John and the comedy of the Hassenreuter group. Nor can the actions be said to be firmly interwoven: they appear, at first sight, merely juxtaposed. Hauptmann would undoubtedly assert that, in modern society, the various social classes live in just such juxtaposition and have contacts of just the kind here chronicled. His real purpose in combining the two fables is more significant. Following the great example, though not the precise method, of Moliere, who produced _La Critique de l'Ecole des Femmes_ on the boards of his theater five months after the hostile reception of _L'Ecole des Femmes_, Hauptmann gives us a naturalistic tragedy and, at the same time, its criticism and defense. His tenacity to the ideals of his youth is impressively illustrated here. In his own work he has created a new idealism. But let it not be thought that his understanding of tragedy and his sense of human values have changed. The charwoman may, in very truth, be a Muse of tragedy, all grief is of an equal sacredness, and even the incomparable Hassenreuter--wind-bag, chauvinist and consistent _Goetheaner_--is forced by the essential soundness of his heart to blurt out an admission of the basic principle of naturalistic dramaturgy. The group of characters in _The Rats_ is unusually large and varied. The phantastic note is somewhat strained perhaps in Quaquaro and Mrs. Knobbe. But the convincingness and earth-rooted humanity of the others is once more beyond cavil or dispute. The Hassenreuter family, Alice Ruetterbusch, the Spittas, Paul John and Bruno Mechelke, Mrs. Kielbacke and even the policeman Schierke--all are superbly alive, vigorous and racy in speech and action. The language of the plays in this volume is again almost wholly dialectic. The linguistic difficulties are especially great in _The Rats_ where the members of the Berlin populace speak an extraordinarily degraded jargon. In the translation I have sought, so far as possible, to differentiate the savour and quaintness of the Silesian dialect from the coarseness of that of Berlin. But all such attempts must, from their very nature, achieve only a partial success. The succeeding volumes of this edition, presenting the plays written in normal literary German, will offer a fairer if not more fascinating field of interpretation. LUDWIG LEWISOHN. DRAYMAN HENSCHEL _LIST OF PERSONS_ DRAYMAN HENSCHEL. MRS. HENSCHEL. HANNE SCHAeL (_later MRS. HENSCHEL_). BERTHA. HORSE DEALER WALTHER. SIEBENHAAR. KARLCHEN. WERMELSKIRCH. MRS. WERMELSKIRCH. FRANZISKA WERMELSKIRCH. HAUFFE. FRANZ. GEORGE. FABIG. HILDEBRANT. VETERINARIAN GRUNERT. FIREMAN. Time: Toward the end of the eighteen sixties. Scene: The "Gray Swan" hotel in a Silesian watering place. THE FIRST ACT _A room, furnished peasant fashion, in the basement of the "Grey Swan" hotel. Through two windows set high in the left wall, the gloomy light of a late winter afternoon sickers in. Under the windows there stands a bed of soft wood, varnished yellow, in which MRS. HENSCHEL is lying ill. She is about thirty-six years of age. Near the bed her little six-months-old daughter lies in her cradle. A second bed stands against the back wall which, like the other walls, is painted blue with a dark, plain border near the ceiling. In front, toward the right, stands a great tile-oven surrounded by a bench. A plentiful supply of small split kindling wood is piled up in the roomy bin. The wall to the right has a door leading to a smaller room. HANNE SCHAeL, a vigorous, young maid servant is very busy in the room. She has put her wooden pattens aside and walks about in her thick, blue stockings. She takes from the oven an iron pot in which food is cooking and puts it back again. Cooking spoons, a twirling stick and a strainer lie on the bench; also a large, thick earthenware jug with a thin, firmly corked neck. Beneath the bench stands the water pitcher. HANNE'S skirts are gathered up in a thick pad; her bodice is dark grey; her muscular arms are bare. Around the top of the oven is fastened a square wooden rod, on which long hunting stockings are hung up to dry, as well as swaddling clothes, leathern breeches and a pair of tall, water-tight boots. To the right of the oven stand a clothes press and a chest of drawers--old fashioned, gaily coloured, Silesian pieces of furniture. Through the open door in the rear wall one looks out upon a dark, broad, underground corridor which ends in a glass door with manicoloured panes. Behind this door wooden steps lead upward. These stairs are always illuminated by a jet of gas so that the panes of the door shine brightly. It is in the middle of February; the weather without is stormy._ _FRANZ, a young fellow in sober coachman's livery, ready to drive out, looks in._ FRANZ Hanne! HANNE Eh? FRANZ Is the missis asleep? HANNE What d'you suppose? Don't make so much noise! FRANZ There's doors enough slammin' in this house. If that don't wake her up--! I'm goin' to drive the carriage to Waldenburg. HANNE Who's goin'? FRANZ The madam. She's goin' to buy birthday presents. HANNE Whose birthday is it? FRANZ Little Karl's. HANNE Great goin's on--those. To hitch up the horses on account o' that fool of a kid an' travel to Waldenburg in such weather! FRANZ Well, I has my fur coat! HANNE Those people don't know no more how to get rid o' their money! We got to slave instead! _In the passage appears, slowly feeling his may, the veterinarian GRUNERT. He is a small man in a coat of black sheep's fur, cap and tall boots. He taps with the handle of his whip against the door post in order to call attention to his presence._ GRUNERT Isn't Henschel at home yet? HANNE What's wanted of him? GRUNERT I've come to look at the gelding. HANNE So you're the doctor from Freiburg, eh? Henschel, he's not at home. He went to Freiburg carryin' freight; seems to me you must ha' met him. GRUNERT In which stall do you keep the gelding? HANNE 'Tis the chestnut horse with the white star on his face, I believe they put him in the spare stall. [_To FRANZ._] You might go along an' show him the way. FRANZ Just go straight across the yard, 's far as you can, under the big hall, right into the coachman's room. Then you c'n ask Frederic; he'll tell you! [_Exit GRUNERT._ HANNE Well, go along with him. FRANZ Haven't you got a few pennies change for me? HANNE I s'pose you want me to sell my skin on your account? FRANZ [_Tickling her._] I'd buy it right off. HANNE Franz! Don't you--! D'you want the woman to wake up? You don't feel reel well, do you, if you can't wring a few farthings out o' me! I'm fair cleaned out. [_Rummaging for the money._] Here! [_She presses something into his hand._] Now get out! [_The bell rings._ FRANZ [_Frightened._] That's the master. Good-bye. [_He goes hastily._ MRS. HENSCHEL [_Has waked up and says weakly._] Girl! Girl! Don't you hear nothin'? HANNE [_Roughly._] What d'you want? MRS. HENSCHEL I want you to listen when a body calls you! HANNE I hear all right! But if you don't talk louder I can't hear. I got only just two ears. MRS. HENSCHEL Are you goin' to cut up rough again? HANNE [_Surly._] Ah, what do I--! MRS. HENSCHEL Is that right, eh? Is it right o' you to talk rough like that to a sick woman? HANNE Who starts it, I'd like to know! You don't hardly wake up but what you begin to torment me. Nothin's done right, no matter how you do it! MRS. HENSCHEL That's because you don't mind me! HANNE You better be doin' your work yourself. I slaves away all day an' half o' the night! But if things is that way--I'd rather go about my business! [_She lets her skirts fall and runs out._ MRS. HENSCHEL Girl! Girl!--Don't do that to me! What is it I said that was so bad? O Lord, O Lord! What'll happen when the men folks comes home? They wants to eat! No, girl ... girl! [_She sinks back exhausted, moans softly, and begins to rock her baby's cradle by means of a cord which is within her reach._ _Through the glass door in the rear KARLCHEN squeezes himself in with some difficulty. He carries a dish full of soup and moves carefully and timidly toward MRS. HENSCHEL'S bed. There he sets down the dish on a wooden chair._ MRS. HENSCHEL Eh, Karlchen, is that you! Do tell me what you're bringin' me there? KARLCHEN Soup! Mother sends her regards and hopes you'll soon feel better and that you'll like the soup, Mrs. Henschel. MRS. HENSCHEL Eh, little lad, you're the best of 'em all. Chicken soup! 'Tis not possible. Well, tell your mother I thank her most kindly. D'you hear? Don't go an' forget that! Now I'll tell you somethin', Karlchen! You c'n do me a favour, will you? See that rag over there? Get on this bench, will you, an' pull the pot out a bit. The girl's gone off an' she put it too far in. KARLCHEN [_After he has found the rag mounts the bench cheerfully and looks into the oven. He asks:_] The black pot or the blue one, Mrs. Henschel? MRS. HENSCHEL What's in the blue pot? KARLCHEN Sauerkraut. MRS. HENSCHEL [_Agitated._] Pull it out! That'll be boilin' to nothin'!--Eh, what a girl, what a girl! KARLCHEN [_Has pulled the pot in question forward._] Is this right? MRS. HENSCHEL You c'n let it stand that way! Come here a bit now an' I'll give you a piece o' whip cord. [_She takes the cord from the window-sill and gives it to him._] An' how is your mother? KARLCHEN She's well. She's gone to Waldenburg to buy things for my birthday. MRS. HENSCHEL I'm not well, myself. I think I'm goin' to die! KARLCHEN Oh, no, Mrs. Henschel! MRS. HENSCHEL Yes, yes, you c'n believe me; I'm goin' to die. For all I care you can say so to your mother. KARLCHEN I'm goin' to get a Bashly cap, Mrs. Henschel. MRS. HENSCHEL Yes, yes, you c'n believe me. Come over here a bit. Keep reel still an' listen. D'you hear how it ticks? D'you hear how it ticks in the rotten wood? KARLCHEN [_Whose wrist she holds in her fevered grasp._] I'm afraid, Mrs. Henschel. MRS. HENSCHEL Oh, never mind. We all has to die! D'you hear how it ticks? Do you? What is that? 'Tis the deathwatch that ticks. [_She falls back._] One ... two ... one ...--Oh, what a girl, what a girl! _KARLCHEN, released from her grasp, withdraws timidly toward the door. When his hand is on the knob of the glass door a sudden terror overtakes him. He tears the door open and slams it behind him with such force that the panes rattle. Immediately thereupon a vigorous cracking of whips is heard without. Hearing this noise MRS. HENSCHEL starts up violently._ MRS. HENSCHEL That's father comin'! HENSCHEL [_Out in the hallway and yet unseen._] Doctor, what are we goin' to do with the beast? [_He and the veterinarian are visible through the doorway._ GRUNERT He won't let you come near him. We'll have to put the twitch on him, I think. HENSCHEL [_He is a man of athletic build, about forty-five years old. He wears a fur cap, a jacket of sheep's fur under which his blue carter's blouse is visible, tall boots, green hunting stockings. He carries a whip and a burning lantern._] I don't know no more what's wrong with that beast. I carted some hard coal from the mine yesterday. I came home an' unhitched, an' put the horses in the stable, an'--that very minute--the beast throws hisself down an' begins to kick. [_He puts his long whip in a corner and hangs up his cap._ _HANNE returns and takes up her work again, although visibly enraged._ HENSCHEL Girl, get a light! HANNE One thing after another! HENSCHEL [_Puts out the light in the lantern and hangs it up._] Heaven only knows what all this is comin' to. First my wife gets sick! Then this here horse drops down! It looks as if somethin' or somebody had it in for me! I bought that gelding Christmas time from Walther. Two weeks after an' the beast's lame. I'll show him. Two hundred crowns I paid. MRS. HENSCHEL Is it rainin' outside? HENSCHEL [_In passing._] Yes, yes, mother; it's rainin'.--An' it's a man's own brother-in-law that takes him in that way. [_He sits down on the bench._ _HANNE has lit a tallow candle and puts it into a candle stick of tin, which she sets on the table._ MRS. HENSCHEL You're too good, father. That's what it is. You don't think no evil o' people. GRUNERT [_Sitting down at the table and writing a prescription._] I'll write down something for you to get from the chemist. MRS. HENSCHEL No, I tell you, if that chestnut dies on top o' everythin' else--! I don't believe God's meanin' to let that happen! HENSCHEL [_Holding out his leg to HANNE._] Come, pull off my boots for me! That was a wind that blew down here on the road from Freiburg. People tell me it unroofed the church in the lower village more'n half, [_To HANNE._] Just keep on tuggin'! Can't you get it? MRS. HENSCHEL [_To HANNE._] I don't know! You don't seem to learn nothin'! [_HANNE succeeds in pulling off one boot. She puts it aside and starts on the other._ HENSCHEL Keep still, mother! You don't do it any better! HANNE [_Pulls off the second boot and puts it aside. Then in a surly voice to HENSCHEL._] Did you bring me my apron from Kramsta? HENSCHEL All the things I'm axed to keep in my head! I'm content if I c'n keep my own bit of business straight an' get my boxes safe to the railroad. What do I care about women or their apron-strings? GRUNERT No, you're not famous for caring about them. MRS. HENSCHEL An' it'd be a bad thing if he was! HENSCHEL [_Slips on wooden pattens and rises. To HANNE._] Hurry now! Hurry! We got to get our dinner. This very day we still has to go down to the smithy. GRUNERT [_Has finished writing his prescription, which he leaves lying on the table. He slips his note book and pencil back into his pocket and says as he is about to go:_] You'll hurry this to the chemist's. I'll look in early in the morning. [_HENSCHEL sits down at the table._ _HAUFFE comes in slowly. He has wooden pattens on and leathern breeches and also carries a lighted lantern._ HAUFFE That's dirty weather for you again! HENSCHEL How's it goin' in the stable? HAUFFE He's goin' to end by knockin' down the whole stall. [_He blows out the light in the lantern and hangs it up next to HENSCHEL'S._ GRUNERT Good night to all of you. All we can do is to wait. We doctors are only human too. HENSCHEL To be sure. We know that without your telling us! Good night; I hope you won't overturn. [_GRUNERT goes._] Now tell me, mother, how is it with you? MRS. HENSCHEL Oh. I've been worritin' so much again! HENSCHEL What is it that worries you? MRS. HENSCHEL Because for all I c'n do, I'm not able to lend a hand even. _HANNE places a disk of dumplings and one of sauerkraut on the table; she takes forks from the table drawer and puts them on the table._ HENSCHEL The girl's here to do the work! MRS. HENSCHEL A girl like her is that thoughtless! HENSCHEL Oh, we gets enough to eat an' everythin' seems to go smoothly.--If you hadn't got up out o' bed too soon the first time, you might be dancin' this day! MRS. HENSCHEL O Lord, me an' dancin'. What an idea! _HANNE has prepared three plates, putting a small piece of pork on each. She now draws up a stool for herself and sits down at the table._ HAUFFE There's not much left o' the oats, neither. HENSCHEL I bought some yesterday; thirty sacks. Saturday a load o' hay'll come too. The feed gets dearer all the time. HAUFFE If the beasts is to work they has to eat. HENSCHEL But people thinks they live on air, an' so everybody wants to cut down the carting charges. HAUFFE He said somethin' like that to me too. MRS. HENSCHEL Who said that--the inspector? HENSCHEL Who else but him? But this time he met the wrong man. MRS. HENSCHEL Well, well, I'm not sayin', but that's the end of everythin'! What's to become of us these hard times? HANNE The inspector of roads was here. He wants you to send him teams for the big steam roller, I believe. They're in Hinterhartau now. _Behind the glass door MR. SIEBENHAAR is seen descending the stairs. He is little over forty. Most carefully dressed; black broadcloth coat, white waist-coat, light-coloured, English trousers--an elegance of attire derived from the style of the 'sixties. His hair, already grey, leaves the top of his head bald; his moustache, on the contrary, is thick and dark blond. SIEBENHAAR wears gold-rimmed spectacles. When he desires to see anything with exactness, he must use, in addition, a pair of eye-glasses which he slips in behind the lenses of his spectacles. He represents an intelligent type._ SIEBENHAAR [_Approaches the open door of the room. In his right hand he holds a candle-stick of tin with an unlit candle in it and a bunch of keys; with his left hand he shades his sensitive eyes._] Has Henschel come back yet? HENSCHEL Yes, Mr. Siebenhaar. SIEBENHAAR But you're just at your dinner. I have something to do in the cellar. We can talk that matter over later. HENSCHEL No, no; you needn't put nothin' off on my account. I'm through! SIEBENHAAR In that case you'd better come up to see me. [_He enters the room and lights his candle by the one which is burning on the table._] I'll only get a light here now. We're more undisturbed in my office.--How are you, Mrs. Henschel? How did you like the chicken-soup? MRS. HENSCHEL Oh, goodness, gracious! I clean forgot about it! SIEBENHAAR Is that so, indeed? HANNE [_Discovering the dish of chicken soup._] That's true; there it stands. HENSCHEL That's the way that woman is! She'd like to get well an' she forgets to eat and to drink. SIEBENHAAR [_As a violent gust of wind is felt even indoors._] Do tell me: what do you think of it? My wife's driven over to Waldenburg, and the weather is getting wilder and wilder. I'm really beginning to get worried. What's your opinion? HENSCHEL I s'pose it sounds worse than it is. SIEBENHAAR Well, well, one shouldn't take such risks. Didn't you hear that rattling? The wind broke one of the large windows in the dining-hall looking out over the verandah. You know. It's a tremendous storm! HENSCHEL Who'd ha' thought it! MRS. HENSCHEL That'll be costin' you a good bit again! SIEBENHAAR [_Leaving the room by way of the passage to the left._] There's nothing inexpensive except death. HENSCHEL He's got his bunch o' troubles like the rest of us. MRS. HENSCHEL What do you think he wants o' you again, father? HENSCHEL Nothin'! How c'n I tell? I'll hear what he says. MRS. HENSCHEL I do hope he won't be askin' for money again. HENSCHEL Don't begin talkin' nonsense, mother. HANNE But if them people is as hard up as all that, why does the woman has to have a twenty shillin' hat? HENSCHEL You hold your tongue! No one asked you! You poke your nose over your kneadin' board an' not into other folks' affairs! It takes somethin' to keep a hotel like this goin'. Two months in the year he makes money. The rest o' the time he has to do the best he can. HAUFFE An' he had to go an' build atop o' that! MRS. HENSCHEL An' 'twas that as got him in worse'n ever. He should ha' let it be. HENSCHEL Women don't understand nothin' o' such affairs. He had to build; he couldn't do no different. We gets more an' more people who come here for their health nowadays; there wasn't half so many formerly. But in those times they had money; now they wants everythin' for nothin'. Get the bottle. I'd like to drink a nip o' whiskey. HAUFFE [_Slowly clasping his knife and getting ready to rise._] Forty rooms, three big halls, an' nothin' in 'em excep' rats an' mice. How's he goin' to raise the interest? [_He rises._ _FRANZISKA WERMELSKIRCH peeps in. She is a pretty, lively girl of sixteen. She wears her long, dark hair open. Her costume is slightly eccentric: the skirts white and short, the bodice cut in triangular shape at the neck, the sash long and gay. Her arms are bare above the elbows. Around her neck she wears a coloured ribbon from which a crucifix hangs down._ FRANZISKA [_Very vivaciously._] Wasn't Mr. Siebenhaar here just now? I wish you a pleasant meal, ladies and gentlemen! I merely took the liberty of asking whether Mr. Siebenhaar hadn't been here just now? MRS. HENSCHEL [_Gruffly._] We don't know nothin'. He wasn't with us! FRANZISKA No? I thought he was! [_She puts her foot coquettishly on the bench and ties her shoe strings._ MRS. HENSCHEL Mr. Siebenhaar here an' Mr. Siebenhaar there! What are you always wantin' of the man? FRANZISKA I? nothing! But he's so fond of gooseliver. Mama happens to have some and so papa sent me to tell him so.--By the way, Mr. Henschel, do you know that you might drop in to see us again, too! MRS. HENSCHEL You just let father bide where he is! That'd be a fine way! He's not thinkin' about runnin' into taverns these days. FRANZISKA We're broaching a new keg to-day, though. HENSCHEL [_While HAUFFE grins and HANNE laughs._] Mother, you stick to your own affairs. If I should want to go an' drink a glass o' beer I wouldn't be askin' nobody's consent, you c'n be sure. FRANZISKA --How are you anyhow, Mrs. Henschel? MRS. HENSCHEL Oh, to-morrow I'll be gettin' me a sash too an' take to rope-dancin'. FRANZISKA I'll join you. I can do that splendidly. I always practice on the carriage shafts. HENSCHEL So that's the reason why all the shafts are bent! FRANZISKA Do you see, this is the way it's done; this is the way to balance oneself. [_Imitating the movements of a tight rope dancer, she prances out by the door._] Right leg! Left leg! _Au revoir!_ [_Exit._ HAUFFE [_Taking down his lantern._] She'll go off her head pretty soon if she don't get no husband. [_Exit._ MRS. HENSCHEL If she had to lend a hand an' work good an' hard, she'd get over that foolishness. HANNE She's not allowed to come upstairs. Mrs. Siebenhaar won't have her. MRS. HENSCHEL An' she's right there. I wouldn't bear it neither. HANNE She's always chasin' an' sniffin' around Mr. Siebenhaar. I'm willin' people should please theirselves. But she's goin' it hard. MRS. HENSCHEL The Siebenhaars ought to put them people out. The goin's on with the men an' the wenches. HENSCHEL Aw, what are you talkin' about, mother? MRS. HENSCHEL Well, in the tap room. HENSCHEL Well, they has to live same as anybody. D'you want to see 'em put in the streets? Wermelskirch's not a bad fellow at all. MRS. HENSCHEL But the woman's an old witch. HENSCHEL If he pays his rent nothin' won't happen to him on that account. An' not on account o' the girl by a long way. [_He has arisen and bends over the cradle._] We've got a little thing like that here too, an' nobody's goin' to put us out for that! MRS. HENSCHEL Eh, that would be ...! She's asleep all the time; she don't seem to want to wake up! HENSCHEL There's not much strength in her.--Mother, sure you're not goin' to die!--[_Taking his cap from the nail._] Hanne, I was just foolin' you a while ago. Your apron is lyin' out there in the waggon. HANNE [_Eagerly._] Where is it? HENSCHEL In the basket. Go an' look for it! [_HENSCHEL leaves by way of the middle door; HANNE disappears into the small adjacent room._ MRS. HENSCHEL So he brought her the apron after all! _HANNE runs quickly through the room again and goes out by the middle door._ MRS. HENSCHEL An' he brought her the apron after all! _SIEBENHAAR enters carefully, carrying his candle and keys as before and, in addition, two bottles of claret._ SIEBENHAAR All alone, Mrs. Henschel? MRS. HENSCHEL An' he brought the apron ... SIEBENHAAR It's me, Mrs. Henschel. Did you think it was a stranger? MRS. HENSCHEL I don't hardly believe ... SIEBENHAAR I hope I didn't wake you up. It's me--Siebenhaar. MRS. HENSCHEL To be sure. Yes. To be sure. SIEBENHAAR And I'm bringing you a little wine which you are to drink. It will do you good.--Is it possible you don't recognize me? MRS. HENSCHEL Well, now, that'd be queer. You are, sure--you are our Mr. Siebenhaar. Things hasn't come to such a pass with me yet. I recognise you all right!--I don't know: has I been dreamin' or what? SIEBENHAAR You may have been. How are you otherwise? MRS. HENSCHEL But sure enough you're Siebenhaar. SIEBENHAAR Perhaps you thought I was your husband! MRS. HENSCHEL I don't know ... I reely can't say ... I was feelin' so queer ... SIEBENHAAR Seems to me you're not lying comfortably. Let me straighten your pillows a bit. Does the doctor see you regularly? MRS. HENSCHEL [_With tearful excitement._] I don't know how it is--they just leaves me alone. No, no, you're Mr. Siebenhaar, I know that. An' I know more'n that: you was always good to me an' you has a good heart, even if sometimes you made an angry face. I can tell you: I'm that afraid! I'm always thinkin': it don't go quick enough for him. SIEBENHAAR What doesn't go quick enough? MRS. HENSCHEL [_Bursting into tears._] I'm livin' too long for him--! But what's to become o' Gustel? SIEBENHAAR But, my dear Mrs. Henschel, what kind of talk is that? MRS. HENSCHEL [_Sobbing softly to herself._] What's to become o' Gustel if I die? SIEBENHAAR Mrs. Henschel, you're a sensible woman! And so do listen to me! If one has to lie quietly in bed, you see, the way you have had to do unfortunately--week after week--why then one naturally has all kinds of foolish thoughts come into one's head. One has all sorts of sickly fancies. But one must resist all that resolutely, Mrs. Henschel! Why, that would be a fine state of affairs, if that--! Such stuff! Put it out of your mind, Mrs. Henschel! it's folly! MRS. HENSCHEL Dear me, I didn't want to believe it: I know what I says! SIEBENHAAR That's just what you don't know. That's just what, unfortunately, you don't know at present. You will simply laugh when you look back upon, it later. Simply laugh! MRS. HENSCHEL [_Breaking out passionately._] Didn't he go an' see her where she sleeps! SIEBENHAAR [_Utterly astonished but thoroughly incredulous._] Who went to see whom? MRS. HENSCHEL Henschel! The girl! SIEBENHAAR Your husband? And Hanne? Now look here; whoever persuaded you of that is a rascally liar. MRS. HENSCHEL An' when I'm dead he'll marry her anyhow! _HENSCHEL appears in the doorway._ SIEBENHAAR You're suffering from hallucinations, Mrs. Henschel! HENSCHEL [_In good-natured astonishment._] What's the matter, Malchen? Why are you cryin' so? SIEBENHAAR Henschel, you mustn't leave your wife alone! HENSCHEL [_Approaches the bed in kindly fashion._] Who's doin' anythin' to you? MRS. HENSCHEL [_Throws herself in sullen rage on her other side, turning her back to HENSCHEL and facing the wall._] ... Aw, leave me in peace! HENSCHEL What's the meanin' o' this? MRS. HENSCHEL [_Snarling at him through her sobs._] Oh, go away from me! _HENSCHEL, visibly taken aback, looks questioningly at SIEBENHAAR, who polishes his glasses and shakes his head._ SIEBENHAAR [_Softly._] I wouldn't bother her just now. MRS. HENSCHEL [_As before._] You're wishin' me into my grave! SIEBENHAAR [_To HENSCHEL, who is about to fly into a rage._] Sh! Do me the favour to keep still! MRS. HENSCHEL A body has eyes. A body's not blind! You don't has to let me know everythin'. I'm no good for nothin' no more; I c'n go! HENSCHEL [_Controlling himself._] What do you mean by that, Malchen? MRS. HENSCHEL That's right! Go on pretendin'! HENSCHEL [_Perplexed in the extreme._] Now do tell me--anybody ...! MRS. HENSCHEL Things c'n go any way they wants to ... I won't be deceived, an' you c'n all sneak aroun' all you want to! I c'n see through a stone wall! I c'n see you for all--yes--for all! You thinks: a woman like that is easy to deceive. Rot, says I! One thing I tell you now--If I dies, Gustel dies along with me! I'll take her with me! I'll strangle her before I'd leave her to a damned wench like that! HENSCHEL But mother, what's come over you? MRS. HENSCHEL You're wishin' me into my grave! HENSCHEL Hold on, now, hold on! Or I'll be gettin' wild! SIEBENHAAR [_Warning him softly._] Be calm, Henschel. The woman is ill. MRS. HENSCHEL [_Who has overheard._] Ill? An' who was it made me ill? You two--you an' your wench! HENSCHEL Now I'd like to know who in the world put notions like that into your head? The girl an' I! I don't understand the whole blasted thing! I'm supposed to have dealin's with her? MRS. HENSCHEL Don't you fetch aprons an' ribands for her? HENSCHEL [_With renewed perplexity._] Aprons and ribands? MRS. HENSCHEL Yes, aprons and ribands. HENSCHEL Well, that's the queerest thing--! MRS. HENSCHEL Don't you think everythin' she does right an' fine? D'you ever give her a angry word? She's like the missis of the house this very day. HENSCHEL Mother, keep still: I'm advisin' you! MRS. HENSCHEL 'Tis you that has to keep still, 'cause there's nothin' you c'n say! SIEBENHAAR [_Standing by the bed._] Mrs. Henschel, you must collect yourself! All this you're saying is the merest fancy! MRS. HENSCHEL You're no better'n he; you don't do no different! An' the poor women--they dies of it! [_Dissolved in self-pitying tears._] Well, let 'em die! _SIEBENHAAR gives a short laugh with an undertone of seriousness, steps up to the table and opens one of the bottles of wine resignedly._ HENSCHEL [_Sitting on the edge of the bed speaks soothingly_] Mother, mother--you turn over now an' I'll say a word to you in kindness. [_He turns her over with kindly violence._] Look at it this way, mother: You've been havin' a dream. You dreamed--that's it! Our little dog, he dreams queer things too now an' then. You c'n see it. But now wake up, mother! Y'understan'? The stuff you been talkin'--if a man wanted to make a load o' that the strongest freight waggon'd break down. My head's fair spinnin' with it. SIEBENHAAR [_Having looked for and found a glass which he now fills._] And then you raked me over the coals too! HENSCHEL Don't take no offence, sir. A woman like that! A man has his troubles with her.--Now you hurry up, mother, an' get well, or some fine day you'll be tellin' me I been to Bolkenhain an' stole horses. SIEBENHAAR Here, drink your wine and try to gain some strength. MRS. HENSCHEL If only a body could be sure! _SIEBENHAAR supports her while she drinks._ HENSCHEL What's wrong now again? MRS. HENSCHEL [_After she has drunk._] Could you give me a promise? HENSCHEL I'll give you any promise you wants. MRS. HENSCHEL If I dies, would you go an' marry her? HENSCHEL Don't ask such fool questions. MRS. HENSCHEL Yes or no! HENSCHEL Marry Hanne? [_Jestingly._] O' course I would! MRS. HENSCHEL I mean it--serious ...! HENSCHEL Now I just wish you'd listen to this, Mr. Siebenhaar! What's a man to say? You're not goin' to die! MRS. HENSCHEL But if I does? HENSCHEL I won't marry her anyhow! Now you see? An' now you know it! We can make an end o' this business. MRS. HENSCHEL Can you promise it? HENSCHEL Promise what? MRS. HENSCHEL That you wouldn't go an' marry the girl! HENSCHEL I'll promise, too; I'm willin' to. MRS. HENSCHEL An' you'll give me your hand in token? HENSCHEL I'm tellin' you: Yes. [_He puts his hand into hers._] But now it's all right. Now don't worry me no more with such stuff. THE CURTAIN FALLS. THE SECOND ACT _A beautiful forenoon in May._ _The same room as in the first act. The bed, in which MRS. HENSCHEL lay, is no longer there. The window which it covered is wide open. HANNE, her face toward the window, her sleeves turned up above her elbows, is busy at the washtub._ _FRANZ, his shirt-sleeves and trousers also rolled up, his bare feet in wooden pattens, comes in carrying a pail. He has been washing waggons._ FRANZ [_With awkward merriment._] Hanne, I'm comin' to see you! Lord A'mighty! Has you got such a thing as some warm water? HANNE [_Angrily throwing the piece of linen which she has on the washboard back into the tub and going over to the oven._] You come in here a sight too often! FRANZ Is that so? What's wrong, eh? HANNE [_Pouring hot water into the pail._] Don't stop to ask questions. I got no time. FRANZ I'm washin' waggons; I'm not idlin' neither. HANNE [_Violently._] You're to leave me alone! That's what you're to do! I've told you that more'n once! FRANZ What am I doin' to you? HANNE You're not to keep runnin' after me! FRANZ You've forgotten, maybe, how it is with us? HANNE How 'tis with us? No ways; nothin'! You go you way an' I goes mine, an' that's how it is! FRANZ That's somethin' bran' new! HANNE It's mighty old to me! FRANZ That's how it seems.--Hanne, what's come between us! HANNE Nothin', nothin'! Only just leave me alone! FRANZ Has you anythin' to complain of? I been true to you! HANNE Oh, for all I care! That's none o' my business! Carry on with anybody you want to! I got nothin' against it! FRANZ Since when has you been feelin' that way? HANNE Since the beginnin' o' time! FRANZ [_Moved and tearful._] Aw, you're just lyin', Hanne! HANNE You don't need to start that way at me. 'Twon't do you no good with me! I don't let a feller like you tell me I'm lyin'! An' now I just want you to know how things is. If your skin's that thick that you can't be made to notice nothin' I'll tell you right out to your face: It's all over between us! FRANZ D'you really mean that, Hanne? HANNE All over--an' I want you to remember that. FRANZ I'll remember it all right! [_More and more excited and finally weeping more than speaking._] You don't need to think I'm such a fool; I noticed it long before to-day. But I kept thinkin' you'd come to your senses. HANNE That's just what I've done. FRANZ It's all the way you look at it. I'm a poor devil--that's certain; an' Henschel--he's got a chest full o' money. There's one way, come to think of it, in which maybe you has come to your senses. HANNE You start at me with such talk an' it just makes things worse an' worse. That's all. FRANZ It's not true, eh? You're not schemin' right on to be Mrs. Henschel? I'm not right, eh? HANNE That's my business. That don't concern you. We all has to look out for ourselves. FRANZ Well, now, supposin' I was to look out for myself, an' goes to Henschel an' says: Hanne, she promised to marry me; we was agreed, an' so.... HANNE Try it, that's all I says. FRANZ [_Almost weeping with pain and rage._] An' I will try it, too! You take care o' yourself an' I'll take care o' myself. If that's the way you're goin' to act, I c'n do the same! [_With a sudden change of front._] But I don't want to have nothin' more to do with you! You c'n throw yourself at his head for all I cares! A crittur like you isn't good enough for me! [_Exit hastily._ HANNE So it worked at last. An' that's all right. _While HANNE continues busy at her washing, WERMELSKIRCH appears in the passage at the rear. He is a man in the fifties; the former actor is unmistakable in him. He wears a thread-bare dressing-gown, embroidered slippers, and smokes a very long pipe._ WERMELSKIRCH [_Having looked in for a while without being noticed by HANNE._] Did you hear him cough? HANNE Who? WERMELSKIRCH Why, a guest--a patient--has arrived upstairs. HANNE 'Tis time they began to come. We're in the middle of May. WERMELSKIRCH [_Slowly crosses the threshold and hums throatily._] A pulmonary subject I, Tra la la la la, bum bum! It can't last long until I die, Tra la la la la, bum bum! [_HANNE laughs over her washing._] Things like that really do one good. They show that the summer is coming. HANNE One swallow don't make no summer, though! WERMELSKIRCH [_Clears a space for himself on the bench and sits down._] Where is Henschel? HANNE Why he went down, to the cemetery to-day. WERMELSKIRCH To be sure, it's his wife's birthday. [_Pause._] It was a deuce of a blow to him, that's certain.--Tell me, when is he coming back? HANNE I don't know why he had to go an' drive there at all. We needs the horses like anything an' he took the new coachman with him too. WERMELSKIRCH I tell you, Hanne, anger spoils one's appetite. HANNE Well, I can't help bein' angry! He leaves everythin' in a mess. The 'bus is to leave on time! An' the one-horse carriage sticks in the mud out there an' Hauffe can't budge it! The old fellow is as stiff as a goat! WERMELSKIRCH Yes, things are beginning to look busy. The _chef_ upstairs starts in to-day. It's beginning to look up in the tap-room too. HANNE [_With a short derisive laugh._] You don't look, though, as if you had much to do! WERMELSKIRCH [_Taking no offence._] Oh, that comes later, at eleven o'clock. But then I'm like a locomotive engine! HANNE I believe you. There'll be a lot o' smoke. You won't let your pipe get cold whatever happens. WERMELSKIRCH [_Smiling a little._] You're pleased to be pointed in your remarks--pointed as a needle.--We've got to-day, for our table music, wait now, let me think--: First of all, a bass violin; secondly, two cellos; thirdly, two first violins and two second violins. Three first, two second, three second, two first: I'm getting mixed up now. At all events we have ten men from the public orchestra. What are you laughing at? Do you think I'm fooling you? You'll see for yourself. The bass violin alone will eat enough for ten. There'll be work enough to do! HANNE [_Laughing heartily._] Of course: the cook'll have a lot to do! WERMELSKIRCH [_Simply._] My wife, my daughter, the whole of my family--we have to work honestly and hard.--And when the summer is over we've worked ourselves to the bone--for nothing! HANNE I don't see what you has to complain of. You've got the best business in the house. Your taproom don't get empty, if it's summer or winter. If I was Siebenhaar upstairs, you'd have to whistle a different tune for me. You wouldn't be gettin' off with no three hundred crowns o' rent. There wouldn't be no use comin' around me with less'n a thousand. An' then you'd be doin' well enough for yourself! WERMELSKIRCH [_Has arisen and walks about whistling._] Would you like anything else? You frighten me so that my pipe goes out! _GEORGE, a young, alert, neat waiter comes very rapidly down the stairs behind the glass door, carrying a tray with breakfast service. While still behind the door he stops short, opens the door, however, and gazes up and down the passage way._ GEORGE Confound it all! What's this place here? HANNE [_Laughing over her tub._] You've lost your way! You has to go back! GEORGE It's enough, God knows, to make a feller dizzy, No horse couldn't find his way about this place. HANNE You've just taken service here, eh? GEORGE Well o' course! I came yesterday. But tell me, ladies an' gentlemen! Nothin' like this has ever happened to me before. I've been in a good many houses but here you has to take along a kind o' mountain guide to find your way. WERMELSKIRCH [_Exaggerating the waiter's Saxonian accent._] Tell me, are you from Dresden, maybe? GEORGE Meissen is my native city. WERMELSKIRCH [_As before._] Good Lord A'mighty, is that so indeed? GEORGE How do I get out of here, tell me that! HANNE [_Alert, mobile, and coquettish in her way in the waiter's presence._] You has to go back up the stairs. We has no use down here for your swallow tails. GEORGE This is the first story, eh? Best part o' the house? HANNE You mean the kennels or somethin' like that? We'll show you--that we will! The very best people live down here! GEORGE [_Intimately and flirtatiously._] Young woman, do you know what? You come along an' show me the way? With you I wouldn't be a bit afraid, no matter where you lead me to. I'd go into the cellar with you or up into the hay loft either. HANNE You stay out o' here! You're the right kind you are! We've got enough of your sort without you. GEORGE Young woman, do you want me to help with the washin'? HANNE No! But if you're aimin' at it exackly, I c'n help you to get along! [_Half drawing a piece of linen out of the suds._] Then you'd be lookin' to see where your starched shirt-front went to! GEORGE O dear! You're not goin' to mess me up that way, are you? Well, well, that wouldn't do! We'd have to have a talk about that first! That so, young woman? Well, o' course! We'll talk about it--when I has time, later. [_He mounts the stairs and disappears._ WERMELSKIRCH He won't lose his way very often after this! Siebenhaar will see to it that he gets to know the way from the dining hall to the kitchen.--Hanne, when is Henschel coming back? HANNE About noon, I s'pose! D'you want me to give him a message? WERMELSKIRCH Tell him--don't forget, now--tell him that I--send him my regards. HANNE Such foolishness. I might ha' thought ...! WERMELSKIRCH [_Passing her with a slight bow._] Thoughts are free ... I wish you a good morning. [_Exit._ HANNE [_Alone, washing vigorously._] If only Henschel wasn't such a fool! _Above the cellar, outside, the pedlar FABIG, kneeling down, looks in at the window._ FABIG Good mornin', young woman! How are you? How's everythin'? HANNE Who are you anyhow? FABIG Why--Fabig, from Quolsdorf. Don't you know me no more? I'm bringin' you a greetin' from your father. An' he wants me to tell you ... Or maybe you'd want me to come in? HANNE Aw, I know. I believe you. He wants money again. Well, I has none myself. FABIG I told him that myself. He wouldn't believe me. Are you all alone, young woman? HANNE Why d'you ax? FABIG [_Lowering his voice._] Well now you see, there's more'n one thing I has on my heart. An', through the window, people might be hearin' it. HANNE Oh well, I don't care. You c'n come in! [_FABIG disappears from the window._] That that feller had to be comin' to-day ...! [_She dries her hands._ _FABIG enters. He is a poorly clad, strangely agile, droll pedlar, with a sparse beard, about thirty-six years old._ FABIG A good mornin' to you, young woman. HANNE [_Fiercely._] First of all, I'm no young woman but a girl. FABIG [_With cunning._] Maybe so. But from all I hears you'll be married soon. HANNE That's nothin' but a pack o' mean lies--that's what it is. FABIG Well, that's what I heard. It's no fault o' mine. People is sayin' it all over; because Mrs. Henschel died ... HANNE Well, they can talk for all I care. I does my work. That's all that concerns me. FABIG That's the best way. I does that way myself. There's little that folks hasn't said about me some time ... In Altwasser they says I steals pigeons. A little dog ran after me ... o' course, they said I stole it. HANNE Well now, if you got anythin' to say to me, go ahead an' don't waste words. FABIG Now you see, there you are. That's what I always says too. People talks a good deal more'n they ought to. They has a few rags to sell an' they talks an' talks as if it was an estate. But I'll say just as little as possible. What I wants to tell you about, young woman--now don't fly up: the word just slipped out!--I meant to say: lass--what I wants to tell you about is your daughter. HANNE [_Violently._] I has no daughter, if you want to know it. The girl that father is takin' care of, is my sister's child. FABIG Well now, that's different, that is. We've all been thinkin' the girl was yours. Where is your sister? HANNE Who knows where she is? She's not fool enough to tell us. She thinks, thinks she: they c'n have the trouble an' see how they gets along. FABIG Well, well, well! There you see again how folks is mistaken. I'd ha' taken any oath ... an' not me, not me alone, but all the folks over in Quolsdorf, that you was the mother o' that child. HANNE Yes, I knows right well who says that o' me. I could call 'em all by name! They'd all like to make a common wench o' me. But if ever I lays my hands on 'em I'll give 'em somethin' to remember me by. FABIG Well, it's a bad business--all of it! Because this is the way it is: the old man, your father, I needn't be tellin' you--things is as they is--he don't hardly get sober. He just drinks in one streak. Well, now that your mother's been dead these two years, he can't leave the little thing--the girl I mean--at home no more. The bit o' house is empty. An' so he drags her around in the pubs, in all kinds o' holes, from one village taproom to the next. If you sees that--it's enough to stir a dumb beast with pity. HANNE [_With fierce impatience._] Is it my fault that he swills? FABIG By no means an' not at all. Nobody c'n keep your old man from doin' his way! 'Tis only on account o' the child, an' it's that makes a body feel sorry. But if that there little one can't be taken away from him an' given in the care o' decent folks, she won't live no ten weeks after this. HANNE [_Hardening herself._] That don't concern me. I can't take her. I got all I can do to get along! FABIG You'd better come over to Quolsdorf some time an' look into it all. That'd be best, too. The little girl ... 'tis a purty little thing, with bits o' hands an' feet like that much porcelain, so dainty an' delicate. HANNE She's not my child an' she don't concern me. FABIG Well, you better come over an' see what's to be done. It's hard for people to see such things goin' on. If a man goes into an inn, in the middle of the night or some time like that--I got to do that, you see, in the way o' business--an' sees her sittin' there with the old man in the midst o' tobacco smoke--I tell you it hurts a body's soul. HANNE The innkeepers oughtn't to serve him nothin'. If they was to take a stick an' beat him out o' their places, maybe he'd learn some sense.--A waggon's just come into the yard. Here you got a sixpence. Now you get along an' I'll be thinkin' it all over. I can't do nothin' about it this minute. But if you goes aroun' here in the inns an' talks about it--then it's all over between us. FABIG I'll take good care, an' it don't concern me. If it's your child or your sister's child--I'm not goin' to poke my nose in the parish register, nor I'm not goin' to say nothin' neither. But if you want a bit o' good advice,'tis this: Tell Henschel straight out how 'tis. He won't tear your head off by a long way! HANNE [_With increasing excitement as HENSCHEL'S voice grows more clearly audible._] Oh this here jabberin'! It's enough to drive you crazy. [_Exit into the adjoining room._ _HENSCHEL enters slowly and seriously. He wears a black suit, a top hat and white knitted gloves._ HENSCHEL [_Remains standing and looks at FABIG with an expression of slow recollection. Simply and calmly._] Who are you? FABIG [_Alertly._] I buy rags, waste paper, furniture, cast off clothes, anythin' that happens to be aroun'. HENSCHEL [_After a long glance, good-naturedly but with decision._] Out with the fellow! _FABIG withdraws with an embarrassed smile._ HENSCHEL [_Takes off his top-hat and wipes his forehead and neck with a manicoloured handkerchief. Thereupon, he places his hat on the table and speaks toward the door of the next room:_] Girl, where are you? HANNE I'm with Gustel here in the little room. HENSCHEL All right. I c'n wait. [_He sits down with a sigh that is almost a groan._] Yes, yes, O Lord--a man has his troubles. HANNE [_Enters busily._] The dinner'll be ready this minute. HENSCHEL I can't eat; I'm not hungry. HANNE Eatin' and drinkin' keeps body an' soul together. I was once in service with a shepherd, an' he said to us more'n one time: If a body has a heartache or somethin' like that, even if he feels no hunger, 'tis best to eat. HENSCHEL Well, cook your dinner an' we'll see. HANNE You shouldn't give in to it. Not as much as all that. You got to resign yourself some time. HENSCHEL Was that man Horand, the bookbinder, here? HANNE Everythin's attended to. He made forty new billheads. There they are on the chest. HENSCHEL Then the work an' the worry begins again. Drivin' in to Freiburg mornin' after mornin' an' noon after noon haulin' sick people across the hills. HANNE You're doin' too much o' the work yourself. Old Hauffe is too slow by half. I can't help it--if I was you I'd get rid o' him. HENSCHEL [_Gets up and goes to the window._] I'm sick of it--of the whole haulin' business. It c'n stop for all I care. I got nothin' against it if it does. To-day or to-morrow; it's the same to me. All you got to do is to take the horses to the flayers, to chop up the waggons for kindlin' wood, an' to get a stout, strong bit o' rope for yourself.--I think I'll go up an' see Siebenhaar. HANNE I was wantin' to say somethin' to you when I got a chance. HENSCHEL Well, what is it, eh? HANNE You see, it's not easy for me. No, indeed. [_Elaborately tearful._] But my brother--he needs me that bad. [_Weeping._] I'll have to leave--that's sure. HENSCHEL [_In extreme consternation._] You're not right in your mind. Don't start that kind o' business! _HANNE, shedding crocodile tears, holds her apron to her eyes._ HENSCHEL Well now, look here, lass: you're not goin' to play me that kind of a trick now! That would be fine! Who's goin' to manage the house? Summer's almost with us now an' you want to leave me in the lurch? HANNE [_With the same gesture._] 'Tis the little one I feels sorry for! HENSCHEL If you don't take care of her, who's goin' to? HANNE [_After a space collecting herself apparently by an effort of the will. Quietly:_] It can't be done no different. HENSCHEL Everythin' c'n be done in this world. All you needs is to want to do it.--You never said nothin' about it before. An' now, suddenly, you talk about your brother!--Maybe I been offendin' you some way? Don't you feel suited with me no more? HANNE There's no end to the gossip that's goin' round. HENSCHEL What kind o' gossip? HANNE Oh, I don't know. I'd rather be goin out o' the way of it. HENSCHEL I'd like to know just what you mean! HANNE I does my work an' I takes my pay! An' I won't have nobody say such things o' me. When the wife was still alive I worked all day; now that she's dead, I don't do no different. People c'n say all they wants to; I'm tryin' to make you think I'm fine, an' I want dead people's shoes. I'd rather go into service some other place. HENSCHEL [_Relieved._] You needn't say no more if that's all it is! HANNE [_Takes up some piece of work as an excuse for leaving the room._] No, no, I'll go. I can't never stay! [_Exit._ HENSCHEL [_Talking after her._] You c'n let people talk an' not say much yourself. All them tongues has to wag for an occupation. [_He takes off his black coat and hangs it up. Sighing._] The pack o' troubles don't get no smaller. _SIEBENHAAR comes in slowly. He carries a decanter full of water and a glass._ SIEBENHAAR Good morning, Henschel. HENSCHEL Good mornin' Mr. Siebenhaar, SIEBENHAAR Am I disturbing you? HENSCHEL Not a bit; not at all. You're very welcome. SIEBENHAAR [_Placing the decanter and the glass on the table._] I've got to drink the medicinal spring water again. I'm having that old trouble with my throat. Well, dear me, a man has to die of something! HENSCHEL You must just go ahead an' drink the waters. They'll cure you. SIEBENHAAR Yes, that's just what I'm doing. HENSCHEL An' not from the Mill Spring nor from the Upper Spring. Ours is the best. SIEBENHAAR Well now, to change the subject. [_Half lost in thought he has been toying with a sprig of ivy. Now he observes this, starts slightly, runs his eyes over the top-hat and HENSCHEL himself and says suddenly:_] This was your wife's birthday, wasn't it? HENSCHEL She'd ha' been thirty-six years old to-day. SIEBENHAAR Is it possible? HENSCHEL Oh, yes, yes. [_Pause._] SIEBENHAAR Henschel, I'd better leave you alone now. But when it's agreeable to you--to-morrow maybe, I'd like to talk over some business with you. HENSCHEL I'd rather you went ahead right now. SIEBENHAAR It's about the thousand crowns ... HENSCHEL Before we says any more, Mr. Siebenhaar. You c'n just keep that money till winter. Why should I be lyin' to you? You see? I don't need the money. I don't care exackly when I gets it; an' that it's safe, I'm satisfied o' that. SIEBENHAAR Well, Henschel, in that case I'm very grateful to you. You're doing me a great favour. During the summer I take in money; you know that. Just now it would have been difficult for me. HENSCHEL Well, you see, so we c'n agree fine. [_Pause._] SIEBENHAAR. [_Walking to and fro._] Yes, yes, I sometimes wonder over myself. I grew up in this house. And yet, to-day, if I could but make a decent closing out, I could leave it quite calmly. HENSCHEL I wouldn't like to go, I must say. I wouldn't hardly know where to go to. SIEBENHAAR Things have moved ahead with you, Henschel. But the same set of conditions that has counted in your favour, has been that against which I've had to struggle to keep my head above water. HENSCHEL The shoe pinches one man in this place an' another man in that. Who's goin' to say which is worse off? You see, I got a good, hard blow, too. An' if I'm goin' to recover ... well, I don't hardly feel like myself yet. [_Pause._] SIEBENHAAR Henschel, there's a time for everything! You'll have to conquer that now. You must go out among people, hear things, see things, drink a glass of beer once in a while, plunge into business, perhaps--somehow, put an end to this sad business. It can't be helped, and so--forward! HENSCHEL 'Tis just as you say! You're quite right! SIEBENHAAR To be sure, your wife was the best, most faithful woman. There's only one opinion about that. But you are in the full current of life, Henschel; you're in your best years; you still have a great deal to do in the world: who knows how much. You needn't forget your wife on that account; on the contrary. And that's entirely out of the question in the case of a man like you. But you must honour her memory in a saner way. This kind of brooding does no good. I've been watching you for a good while and I determined, without saying anything, to make a really strong appeal to you one day. You're letting yourself be actually downed. HENSCHEL But what's a man to do against it? You're right--that you are; but times I hardly know what to do! You say: Plunge into business. But there's somethin' lackin' all around. Four eyes sees better'n two; four hands--they c'n do a sight more. Now I got all these coaches here in the summer! An' there's no one to see to things at home! 'Tis not easy, I c'n tell you that. SIEBENHAAR I thought that Hanne was quite a capable girl. HENSCHEL Well, you see, she's given me notice, too.--'Tis too hard for a man to get along without a wife. Yon can't depend on no one. That's just it; that's just what I says! SIEBENHAAR Why don't you marry, Henschel? HENSCHEL 'Twould be best!--What c'n I do without a wife? A man like me can't get along without one. I was thinking in fact, of goin' upstairs an' askin' the missis if, maybe, she could give me some advice in that direction. She died an' left me alone in the midst of all these worries.--An', also, to tell you the truth, this business of mine's not what it used to be. How long is it goin' to be before the railroad comes here? Well, you see, we'd put by a little, an' we wanted to buy a small inn--maybe in two years or so. Well, that can't be done without a woman neither. SIEBENHAAR True. You won't be able to get along this way permanently. You can't remain a widower the rest of your life. If for no other reason but for the child's sake. HENSCHEL That's what I always says. SIEBENHAAR Of course I have no right to interfere in your affairs. Still, we're old friends. To wait, Henschel, just on account of what people will think--that's sheer nonsense, no more, no less. If you are quite seriously thinking of marrying again, it would be better both for you and for the child if you did it soon. You needn't be overhasty; assuredly not! But if you've quite made up your mind, then--go straight ahead! Why should you hesitate? [_After a pause during which HENSCHEL scratches his head._] Have you any one particular in view? HENSCHEL --If I got some one in view? That's what you'd like to know? Maybe I has. Only I can't marry her. SIEBENHAAR But why not? HENSCHEL You know it yourself. SIEBENHAAR I? I know it? How's that? HENSCHEL All you got to do is a little thinkin'. SIEBENHAAR [_Shaking his head._] I can't say that I recall at this moment. HENSCHEL Didn't I have to go an' promise my wife ... SIEBENHAAR. ------?--Oh, yes!!--You mean the girl--Hanne?-- [_Pause._] HENSCHEL I been thinkin' an' thinkin'. There's no use in denyin' it. When I wakes up during the night, I can't sleep for a couple o' hours sometimes. I got to be thinkin' of it all the time. I can't get over it any way!--The girl's a good girl. She's a bit young for an old fellow like me, but she c'n work enough for four men. An' she's taken very kindly to Gustel; no mother could do more'n she. An' the girl's got a head on her, that's sure, better'n mine. She c'n do sums better'n I can. She might go an' be a calculator. She knows a bit o' business to the last farthing, even if six weeks have come an' gone since. I believe she could make a fool o' two lawyers. SIEBENHAAR Well, if you're so thoroughly convinced of all that ...! HENSCHEL There wouldn't be no better wife for me! An' yet ... an' yet! I can't get over it. [_Pause._] SIEBENHAAR I do remember quite dimly now what you mean. It was quite at the end of her life.--But I confess to you quite frankly: I didn't take that matter so very seriously. Your wife was in a very excited condition. And that was caused largely by her illness.--I can't think that that is the main question. The real question must finally be whether Hanne is really suitable for you! She has her advantageous qualities: no doubt about that. There are things about her that I like less. However: who hasn't some faults. People say that she has a child. HENSCHEL That she has. I've inquired. Well, even so. I don't care nothin' about that. Was she to wait for me, eh? She didn't know nothin' about me when that happened. She's hot-blooded; all right. That'll come out somehow. When the pears is ripe, they falls to the ground. On that account--no, that don't trouble me none. SIEBENHAAR Well, then! The other matter is trivial. Perhaps not trivial exactly. I can well understand how it's taken hold of you. Still, one must get free of it. To be bound by it, in spite of one's saner thought--that's clearly folly, Henschel. HENSCHEL I've said that to myself ten times over. You see, my wife she didn't never want anythin' but what was for my best good. I mean, in the days when she was well. She wouldn't want to stand in my way. Wherever she is, maybe, she'd want to see me get along. SIEBENHAAR Assuredly. HENSCHEL Well, I went out to her grave to-day. The missis had a wreath put there too. I thought to myself I'd better go there, that's what I thought. Maybe she'll be sendin' you some message. Mother, I said in my thoughts, give me a sign. Yes or no! Anyway you answers, that way it'll be! An' I stood, there half an hour.--I prayed, too, an' I put it all to her--just to myself, o' course--about the child an' the inn an' that I don't know what to do in my business--but she didn't give me no sign. _HANNE enters throwing sidelong glances at the two men, but at once going energetically to work. She puts the washbench and tub aside and busies herself at the stove._ SIEBENHAAR [_To HENSCHEL._] God give the dead peace and blessedness. You are a man; you're in the midst of life. Why should you need signs and miracles? We can find our way in this world by depending with fair certainty on our reason. You simply go your way. You're captain on your own ship. Overboard with all these fancies and sickly notions! The more I think of your plan, the more rational it seems to me ... HENSCHEL Hanne, what do you say about it? HANNE I don't know. How c'n I tell what you're talkin' about? HENSCHEL You just wait: I'll tell you later. SIEBENHAAR Well, good morning, Henschel. I'll see you later. Meanwhile--good luck! HENSCHEL I'll hope I'll have it. SIEBENHAAR I'm not worried about you. You had a lucky way with you always. [_Exit._ HENSCHEL Yon shouldn't be sayin' it! 'Tis bad luck. HANNE If you spits three times, it'll take the curse off. [_Pause._] HANNE I can't help thinkin' as you're too good. HENSCHEL What makes you think so? HANNE People just robs you: that's what I says. HENSCHEL Did you think he wanted somethin' of me? HANNE Well, what else? He ought to be ashamed to come beggin' o' poor people. HENSCHEL Hanne, you don't know what you're sayin'. HANNE I knows well enough. HENSCHEL That's what you don't. An' you couldn't know. But some day, later on, you'll come to understand.--Now I'll be goin' to the taproom an' buy me a mug o' beer. It'll be the first time these eight weeks. After that we c'n eat, an' after the dinner then--listen to me--then we might say a word to each other. Then we c'n see how everythin' c'n be straightened out.--Or, maybe, you don't care about it? HANNE You was sayin' yourself: We c'n see. HENSCHEL An' that's what I says now. We c'n wait. [_Exit._ [_Pause._] HANNE [_Works on undisturbed. When HENSCHEL is out of hearing, she suddenly ceases, scarcely mastering her joyous excitement, she dries her hands and tears off her apron. In involuntary triumph:_] I'll show you. Watch out! THE CURTAIN FALLS. THE THIRD ACT _The same room as tn the two preceding acts._ _It is evening toward the end of November. A fire is burning in the oven; a lighted candle stands on the table. The middle door is closed. Muffled dance music penetrates into the room from the upper stories of the house._ _HANNE, now MRS. HENSCHEL, sits by the table and knits; she is neatly and suitably clad in a dress of blue cotton, and wears a red kerchief across her breast._ _HILDEBRANT, the smith, enters. A small, sinewy person._ HILDEBRANT Good evenin', missis, where's your husband? MRS. HENSCHEL Gone to Breslau. He's fetchin' three new horses. HILDEBRANT Then I s'pose he won't be comin' home to-day, eh? MRS. HENSCHEL Not before Monday. HILDEBRANT Well, this is Saturday.--We've brought back the board waggon. It's downstairs in the entry way. We had to renew all the four tires. Where's Hauffe? MRS. HENSCHEL He hasn't been with us this long time. HILDEBRANT So he hasn't. 'Tis nonsense I'm talkin'. I mean the new servant. Is Schwarzer here? MRS. HENSCHEL He's gone along to Breslau. HILDEBRANT Fact is I knows all about Hauffe. He comes down to the smithy an' just stands aroun'. He's got nothin' to do yet. MRS. HENSCHEL People says he's beginnin' to drink. HILDEBRANT I believes it. That's the way it goes. 'Tis bad for an old fellow like that; nobody wants him now.--What's goin' on up there to-day? MRS. HENSCHEL Dancin'! HILDEBRANT How'd it be if we was to go up there too, missis. Why shouldn't we be joinin' in a little waltz too? MRS. HENSCHEL They'd open their eyes pretty wide up there if we did.--But what is it you want of Henschel? HILDEBRANT His honour, the judge, has a chestnut stallion that don't want to let hisself be shoed. So we wanted to ax Henschel to step over. If he can't get any beast to stand still, why then--! Well, good evenin', Mrs. Henschel. MRS. HENSCHEL Good evenin'. _HILDEBRANT withdraws._ MRS. HENSCHEL. [_Listens to a dragging noise out in the passage._] What kind of a noise is that there? [_She steps forward and opens the door._] Who's makin' all that racket out there? FRANZISKA [_Comes dancing in._] Get out of the way, Mrs. Henschel! I have no time. [_She whirls about in the room to the measure of the waltz heard from above._] MRS. HENSCHEL Well, this is a fine way to act! What's the matter with you? Did a mad dog bite you, maybe? _FRANZISKA dances on and hums the melody of the waltz._ MRS. HENSCHEL [_More and more amused._] For heaven's sake! Somethin's goin' to happen to you!--No, girl, you're goin' clear out o' your mind! FRANZISKA [_Sinks exhausted into a chair as the music breaks off._] Oh, Mrs. Henschel, I could dance myself to death! MRS. HENSCHEL [_Laughing._] At this here rate I believes you! It makes a body feel dizzy just to watch you. FRANZISKA Don't you dance at all? MRS. HENSCHEL Me? If I dance? To be sure I do. 'Twasn't once or twice only that I got a pair o' new shoes an' danced 'em to pieces in one night! FRANZISKA Come and dance with me then! MRS. HENSCHEL Why don't you go upstairs an' dance with the folks there? FRANZISKA Oh, if only I might! Do you know what I'll do? I'll sneak up! I'll sneak into the gallery! Have you ever been up there? The bags of prunes stand up there. I go up there quite boldly and look down, and eat prunes. Why shouldn't I look down from there? MRS. HENSCHEL An' maybe Siebenhaar'll send for you to come down. FRANZISKA I just stare down as bold as you please. I don't care a bit. And whenever a lady dances with Mr. Siebenhaar, I pelt her with plum pits. MRS. HENSCHEL You're crazy about Siebenhaar--that's certain! FRANZISKA Well, he's a real swell--that's what none of the others are. [_The music is heard again._] Ah, they're starting. That's a polka! [_Dancing again._] I'd like to dance with Mr. Siebenhaar this minute. D'you know what I'd do? I'd just kiss him before he knew what was happening. MRS. HENSCHEL Siebenhaar'd be too old for me! FRANZISKA Your husband is just as old, Mrs. Henschel. MRS. HENSCHEL Look here, girl, I want you to know that my husband is a good five years younger. FRANZISKA Well, he looks much older anyhow. Why, he looks so old and wrinkled. No, I wouldn't care to kiss him. MRS. HENSCHEL You better see about getting out o' here, or I'll take a broom an' help you along! Don't you abuse my husband! An' where would I get a better one? You wait till you're a few years older an' you'll see what it means in this world to have a husband! FRANZISKA I won't marry at all. I'll wait till some fine, rich gentleman comes--some summer--for his health--a Russian, by preference--and then I'll let him take me out into the world. I want to see the world--to wander far--I want to go to Paris. And then I'll write you about myself, Mrs. Henschel. MRS. HENSCHEL I do believe you'll run off some day! FRANZISKA You can wager anything that I will. Mr. Siebenhaar was in Paris, too, you know, during the revolution in 'forty-eight, and he can tell you the most interesting stories! Oh, I'd like to see a revolution like that some day too. They build barricades ... WERMELSKIRCH'S VOICE Franziska! Franziska! Where are you keeping yourself again? FRANZISKA Sh! Don't say anything! WERMELSKIRCH'S VOICE Franziska! Franziska! FRANZISKA Sh! Keep still! He wants me to serve at the bar. And that's horrid and I won't do it! WERMELSKIRCH'S VOICE Franziska! FRANZISKA It's papa's or mama's place to do that. Or they can hire a waiter. I won't be turned into a bar maid. MRS. HENSCHEL That's not the worst kind o' thing! FRANZISKA Oh, if there were real gentlemen to serve! But they're just well--attendants, coachmen and miners. Much obliged for such company! I don't care about it! MRS. HENSCHEL If I was you, I'd do that reel easy. An' I'd be gettin' good tips. You could save a good many pennies an' put by a nice sum. FRANZISKA I won't accept pennies and farthings. And if some time Mr. Siebenhaar or the architect or Dr. Valentiner gives me a present, I spend it on sweetmeats right away. MRS. HENSCHEL Ah, that's just it. You're your father's daughter. An' your mother wasn't much different neither. You people don't take care o' the business you has! If you'd ha' done so you'd have money out at interest this day. FRANZISKA We're not as stingy as you, that's all. MRS. HENSCHEL I'm not stingy. But you got to keep your substance together. FRANZISKA People say you're stingy, though! MRS. HENSCHEL People c'n be--! An' you too! Hurry now an' get out o' here! I'm sick o' your jabberin' now! An' you don't need to come back here neither! I haven't been longin' for you, exackly! 'Tis best not to see or hear anything o' the whole crowd o' you. FRANZISKA [_Turning once more at the door, with angry malice._] Do you know what else people say? MRS. HENSCHEL I don't want to know nothin'! Get out o' here! You look out that you don't get to hear things about yourself! Who knows what's between you an' Siebenhaar? You two knows it an' I knows it too. Otherwise you'd ha' been kicked out twenty times over with your slovenly management! Teach me to know Siebenhaar! FRANZISKA Fy, fy and fy again! [_Exit._ MRS. HENSCHEL The baggage! _The middle door has remained open. SIEBENHAAR and the waiter GEORGE, coming from different directions along the passage way, are seen to meet at the door. GEORGE affects the height of Vienna fashions--hat, cane, long overcoat, gay tie._ SIEBENHAAR What are you after here? GEORGE You'll forgive me but I have some business with Drayman Henschel. SIEBENHAAR Henschel is not at home. You've been told three times now that there is no place for you in my house. If you can't remember that henceforth I shall be compelled to have your memory assisted by--the constable. GEORGE I beg your pardon very humbly, Mr. Siebenhaar, but I begs to submit that I don't come to see you. These people lives in your house. An' you can't prove nothin' as touchin' the question of my honour. SIEBENHAAR Very well. Only, if I should meet you again I'll have the porter kick you out. So you had better act accordingly. [_Exit._ GEORGE _[Enters the room cursing.]_ I'll take that there risk! We'll see about that later! MRS. HENSCHEL [_Closes the door, with difficulty mastering her rage toward SIEBENHAAR._] We're here, too, I'd have him know. Just let him try it! This here is our room, not his room, an' anybody that comes here comes to us an' not to him! He's got no right to say nothin' about it! GEORGE We'll just wait an' see--that's all I says. He might have to pay good an' dear for that. That kind o' thing takes a man to the pen. He got hisself into a nasty mess with Alphonse, who was here two years ago. But he'd be gettin' into a worse mess with me. A hundred crowns o' damages'd be too little for me. MRS. HENSCHEL An' he hasn't got no hundred crowns in his pocket--the damned bankrupt! He's been borrowing of everybody in the county. He's got nothin' but debts; you hear that on all sides. 'Twon't be long before there won't be nothin' left an' he'll have to leave the house hisself instead o' puttin' other people out of it! GEORGE [_Has recovered his overcoat, hung up his hat, and is now picking off the little feathers from his coat and trousers._] That's right! An' that's no secret to nobody. Even the people that come here year in an' out says the same. An' nobody is sorry for him; no, they're willin' it should happen to him. My present boss, he can't stand him neither. He gets reel venomous if you so much as mention Siebenhaar's name. [_Takes a pocket-mirror and comb from his pocket and smooths his hair._] Lord knows, he says, there's more tricks to that man than a few. MRS. HENSCHEL I believes that; I s'ppose he's right there. GEORGE Now then, Hanne, has you got somethin' warm for me? MRS. HENSCHEL Why didn't you come yesterday? GEORGE You thinks I c'n get off every day, don't you? 'Twas hard enough to get to come here to-day! Yesterday I was busy till three o'clock in the mornin'. MRS. HENSCHEL: What was it happened? GEORGE There was a meetin' o' the fire board. They bought a new engine, an' so they wanted to celebrate the purchase. That's how they came to have a meetin'. MRS. HENSCHEL All they wants is an excuse to swill. An' all that while I sat till late at night and waited. Once--I don't know, but it must ha' been a bird flyin' against the window--I thought 'twas you, an' so I went to the window an' opened it. After that I was that mad, I couldn't sleep half the night. GEORGE Oh, pshaw! What's the use o' havin' things like that spoil one's temper. [_He puts his arms around her._] That's nothin'! Nothin' at all. MRS. HENSCHEL [_Frees herself from his embrace._] Oh, I don't know! 'Tis true--I don't know how it comes--but things seem to go contrary with a body. Henschel sits aroun' at home the whole week, an' now that he's gone for a bit, we has to let the time slide away! GEORGE Well, we got plenty o' time to-day. He don't come back till Monday, I thought. MRS. HENSCHEL Who knows if it's true! GEORGE I don't know no reason why it shouldn't be true! MRS. HENSCHEL That man is bound to sit aroun' at home. 'Twasn't half as bad formerly. He used to go on trips weeks at a time; nowadays he whines if he's got to sleep away from home a single night. An' if he says: I'll stay three days, he mostly comes back on the second--Listen ... I believe they've come already! Who else'd be crackin' whips like that in the yard? GEORGE [_After he has listened, in a restrained tone:_] The devil take 'em all--the whole damned crowd! A man hasn't had time to get warm a bit. I s'pose I'll have to leave right off, eh? I thought it'd be mighty different, I must say! [_He slips his overcoat back on and takes up his hat._ MRS. HENSCHEL [_Tears his hat from his head._] You stay right here! What d'you want to run off for? D'you think I got to be scared o' Henschel. He's got to come to my terms. I don't has to think about him. If you'd come yesterday!--I told you ...! Then nobody wouldn't ha' interrupted us, no Henschel an' no Siebenhaar. To-day the devil's broke loose! _The horse dealer WALTHER enters--a handsome, vigorous fellow of forty. Bashly cap, fur jacket, hunting stockings and tall boots; his mits are fastened by cords._ WALTHER Missis, your husband is outside in the yard. I'm just comin' in for a minute to bid you good evenin'. I got to ride off again straight way. He's bought some fine Flemish horses. An' he's brought along something else, for you too. MRS. HENSCHEL I thought he wouldn't be comin' back till Monday. WALTHER An' that's the way it would ha' been. But we couldn't ride on horseback no farther'n Kanth. There we had to take the train with the horses or they'd ha' broken their necks an' their limbs. Travellin' was that bad on account o' the sleet. GEORGE You makes better time with the train--that's certain! WALTHER What kind of a feller is that there? Why, you're tryin' to be invisible, eh? Well, if that isn't little George--I do believe! Why, you looks like a natural born baron! GEORGE A man earns more over there in the "Star" hotel. I has a much more profitable position. Here I had to work till my clothes dropped from me in rags. I was most naked in the end; now I'm beginnin' to buy somethin' again. WALTHER Now guess, missis, what your husband has brought home for you! MRS. HENSCHEL Well, what is it? WALTHER I wager you'll be mighty glad of that present! MRS. HENSCHEL We'll see. It depends on what it is. WALTHER Good luck to you then. I got to hurry or my wife'll get ugly. MRS. HENSCHEL Good luck to you. GEORGE I might as well come along. Good night, Mrs. Henschel. MRS. HENSCHEL Didn't you want to see Henschel about somethin'? GEORGE There's plenty o' time for that. There's no hurry. WALTHER If you got somethin' to say to him you'd better wait till to-morrow. He's got different kinds o' things in his mind to-day. D'you know what he's bringin' you, missis? MRS. HENSCHEL What should he be bringin' me? Don't talk so much nonsense. WALTHER Why, he's bringin' you your daughter! MRS. HENSCHEL --What's that he's bringin'? I didn't hear right! WALTHER We was in Quolsdorf and fetched her. MRS. HENSCHEL You're drunk, the two o' ye, eh? WALTHER No, no, I'm tellin' you the truth. MRS. HENSCHEL Who did you get? WALTHER He didn't tell me nothin' about it. All of a sudden we was in the pub at Quolsdorf an' sat down there. MRS. HENSCHEL Well, an' what then? WALTHER We was sittin' there an' then, after a little while, your father came in with the bit of a girl. MRS. HENSCHEL 'Tis no girl o' mine! WALTHER I don't know nothin' about that! I knows this much though: he's got the child out there. He went up to your father an' he said: The child's a pretty child.--Then he took her in his arms an' petted her. Shall I take you with me, he axes her, an' she was willin' right off. MRS. HENSCHEL Well, an' my father? WALTHER Well, your father didn't know who Henschel was! MRS. HENSCHEL Better an' better! An' is that all? WALTHER [_Almost addressing GEORGE now._] No, there was nothin' more. He just took the little one out an' said to your father: I'll let the lass ride horseback. An' she kept cryin' out: Lemme ride! Lemme ride! Then Henschel mounted his great Flemish horse an' I had to hand the child up to him. After that he said: Good-bye, an' rode off. MRS. HENSCHEL An' father just stood there an' looked on? WALTHER What was he goin' to do about it? The whole village might ha' turned out for all the good it would ha' done. When once Henschel lays his hands on somethin'--I wouldn't advise nobody to cross him! An' there's no one in the county that likes to pick a quarrel with him neither! Your father, he didn't know what was goin' on. Then suddenly, o' course, he roared like fury an' cried out an' cursed more'n enough. But the people just laughed. They knew Henschel. An' he--Henschel--he just said reel quiet: Good luck to you, father Schael; I'm takin' her along. The mother is waitin' for her at home. Stop drinkin'! he said, an' maybe there'll be a place with us for you some day, too. GEORGE Good-bye, I think I'll maybe drop in to-morrow. [_Exit._ MRS. HENSCHEL An' so he thinks I'm goin' to keep her here. I'll never do that--never in the world. She's no child o' mine! How would I be lookin' before people? First in Quolsdorf, then here! Didn't I work an' worry enough? Day an' night, you might say, I was busy with Gustel. An' now the weary trouble is to begin all over again. That'd be fine, wouldn't it? He'd better take care! _HENSCHEL appears in the middle door. He is also clad in leathern breeches, fur jacket, tall boots, etc., just as he has dismounted. He leads by the hand a little girl of six--ragged and unwashed._ HENSCHEL [_Almost merrily referring to HANNE'S last words, which he has overheard._] Who's to take care? MRS. HENSCHEL --Oh, I don't know! HENSCHEL Look, Hanne, look who comes here! [_To the child._] Go ahead, Berthel, an' say good evenin'. Go on an' say it! Say: Good evenin', mama! _BERTHEL leaving HENSCHEL unwillingly and walks, encouraged by friendly little shoves from him, diagonally across the room to where HANNE, assuming a disgruntled attitude, sits on the bench._ MRS. HENSCHEL [_To the child, who stands helplessly before her._] What do you want here? BERTHEL I rode on such a pitty horsie? _HENSCHEL and WALTHER laugh heartily._ HENSCHEL Well now we'll keep her here. Hallo, Hanne! Are you angry about anythin'? MRS. HENSCHEL You are sayin' you wouldn't be back till Monday. There's not a bite for supper in the house now. HENSCHEL There'll be a bit o' bread an' bacon. [_He hangs up his cap._ MRS. HENSCHEL [_Pulling ungently at BERTHEL'S clothes._] How'd you get this way? HENSCHEL You'll soon have to buy her somethin' to put on! She's got hardly nothin' on her little body. 'Twas a good thing I had plenty o' blankets along, or she'd ha' been half froze on the way. [_After he has removed his fur jacket and warmed his hands._] Best thing would be to put her right straight in a tub. MRS. HENSCHEL Best thing would ha' been if you'd ha' left her where she was. HENSCHEL What did you say? MRS. HENSCHEL Nothin'. HENSCHEL I thought you were sayin' somethin'.--Into the tub with her! An' then to bed! An' you might go over her head a bit! I believe she's got a little colony there. [_BERTHEL cries out._] What's the matter? Don't tug at her so rough! MRS. HENSCHEL Oh, don't cry, girl! That'd be the last straw! HENSCHEL You must be a bit friendly with her. The lass is thankful for every kind word. Be quiet, Berthel, be quiet! BERTHEL I want to go to father! HENSCHEL You're with mother now! Mother is good!--I'm reel satisfied that we has her with us. 'Twas the highest time. A bit longer an' we might ha' had to look for her in the graveyard. MRS. HENSCHEL That wasn't half as bad as you're tryin' to make out. HENSCHEL [_In some consternation but still kindly._] What's the meanin' o' that? [_Pause._] WALTHER Well, good luck to you all. I'll have to be goin'. HENSCHEL Wait a bit an' drink a glass o' toddy. MRS. HENSCHEL If there were only some rum in the house! HENSCHEL Well, you can fetch it from Wermelskirch's! MRS. HENSCHEL I don't want to have nothin' to do with those people! WALTHER No, no. I got to go home. I got no time. I got to be ridin' half an hour yet. [_To HANNE._] I don't want to be a bother to you. MRS. HENSCHEL Who mentioned such a thing? WALTHER [_Humorously._] Nothin'! I didn't say nothin' at all. God forbid! I won't let myself in for nothin'. You're a hard customer. Good-bye an' good luck! HENSCHEL Good-bye, an' don't forget a greetin' to the wife! WALTHER [_Already from outside._] All right! Good night! I won't forget nothin'. [_Exit._ HENSCHEL Well, didn't I do the right thing this time? MRS. HENSCHEL What is I to say to people? HENSCHEL --You're not goin' to be ashamed o' your own daughter! MRS. HENSCHEL Who's sayin' I is, eh? 'Tis all the same to me! You're willin' to have 'em say evil o' me. You force 'em to it! [_Harshly to the child._] Here, drink this milk! An' then off to bed with you! [_BERTHEL drinks._] HENSCHEL Are you goin' to go on this way? MRS. HENSCHEL Go on how? HENSCHEL With the child! MRS. HENSCHEL I'm not goin' to bite her; there's no fear! [_She takes the still weeping child into the little room to bed._ HENSCHEL [_Speaking after her._] She's not here to be bitten. I needn't ha' brought her, you know! [_A brief pause, after which HANNE returns._ HENSCHEL A man can't never know how to please you. There's no gettin' along with women folks. You always acted as if.... MRS. HENSCHEL [_With tears of rage._] That's a lie if you want to know it! HENSCHEL What's a lie! MRS. HENSCHEL [_As above._] I never bothered you about Berthel. I never so much as mentioned her to you! HENSCHEL I didn't say you had. Why d'you howl so? On that account, because you didn't say nothin', I wanted to help you in spite o' your silence. MRS. HENSCHEL But couldn't you ha' asked? A man ought to say somethin' before he does a thing like that! HENSCHEL Well now, I'll tell you somethin': This is Saturday night. I hurried all I could so's to be at home again. I thought you'd meet me different! But if it's not to be, it can't be helped. Only, leave me in peace! You understand! MRS. HENSCHEL Nobody's robbin' you o' your peace. HENSCHEL D'you hear me? I want my peace an' that's all. You brought me to that point. I didn't think nothin' but what was good doin' this thing. Gustel is dead. She won't come back no more. Her mother took her to a better place. The bed is empty, an' we're alone. Why shouldn't we take care o' the little lass? That's the way I thinks an' I'm not her father! You ought to think so all the more, 'cause you're the child's mother! MRS. HENSCHEL There you are! You're beginnin' to throw it up to me this minute! HENSCHEL If you don't stop I'll go to Wermelskirch an' not come back all night! D'you want to drive me out o' the house?--I'm always hopin' things'll be different, but they gets worse ... worse! I thought maybe if you had your child with you, you'd learn a little sense. If these goin's on don't end soon ... MRS. HENSCHEL All I say is this: If she stays in the house an' if you tell people that she's mine ... HENSCHEL They all know it! I don't have to tell 'em. MRS. HENSCHEL Then you c'n take your oath on it--I'll run away! HENSCHEL Run, run all you can--all you want to! You ought to be ashamed o' yourself to the bottom o' your heart! THE CURTAIN FALLS. THE FOURTH ACT _The tap room in WERMELSKIRCH'S public house. A flat, whitewashed room with a door leading to the inner rooms of the house on the left. The rear wall of this room is broken, toward its middle. The opening leads to a second, smaller, oblong room. On the right wall of this second room there is a glass door leading out into the open and, farther forward, a window. On the rear wall of the main room the bar is situated, filled with square whisky-bottles, glasses, etc. The beer is also on draught there. Highly varnished tables and chairs of cherry wood are scattered about the room. A red curtain divides the two rooms. In the oblong rear room are also chairs and tables and, in the extreme background, a billiard table. Lithographs, representing mainly hunting scenes, are hung on the walls._ _WERMELSKIRCH, in a dressing gown and smoking a long pipe, sits on the left, himself playing the piano. Three members of the voluntary fire-corps play billiards. In the foreground to the right HAUFFE sits brooding over a glass of whisky. He is noticeably shabby. MRS. WERMELSKIRCH, a gipsy-like, slovenly old woman, is rinsing glasses behind the bar. FRANZISKA is crouching on a window ledge at the right playing with a kitten. The waiter GEORGE is standing at the bar over a glass of beer. He has an elegant spring suit on, as well as patent-leather shoes, kid-gloves and a top-hat set far back on his head._ WERMELSKIRCH [_Plays and sings._] "When I was prince in realms Arcadian, I lived in splendour and in wealth." GEORGE [_Who has accompanied the music by dancing gestures._] Go on, go on with, that! WERMELSKIRCH [_Coughing affectedly._] Can't be done! Quite hoarse! Anyhow ... pshaw!... I'll try again. "When I was prince ...." [_He coughs._] "When I was prince in realms Arcadian, I lived in splen ... I lived in splen ... "! The devil take it! GEORGE Aw, why don't you go on? That was quite right! That was fine! WERMELSKIRCH I see myself trying! It's all over with me! GEORGE I don't understand you! That's the finest kind o' chamber music! WERMELSKIRCH [_Laughing._] Chamber music! GEORGE Well, maybe not! I don't know the differences so well. Hallo, Miss Franziska, what are you laughin' at? FRANZISKA I'm laughing at your beautiful patent-leather boots. GEORGE Go right ahead! You don't expect me to go barefoot. Give that man over there a glass of beer. How would you like a bit o' cordial, Miss Franziska? You're right, my boots is pretty fine ones. They cost me twenty crowns. Why not? I c'n stand the expense; I'm able to do it! In the "Sword" hotel a man c'n at least earn somethin'. To be sure, while I was at the "Star" I couldn't ha' bought no boots like this. WERMELSKIRCH So you like it better at the "Sword"? GEORGE I should say so! A boss like I got now, a reel good fellow--I never had before long's I've been in the business. We're like old friends--like brothers. I could say most anythin' to him! WERMELSKIRCH Well, that's very different from Siebenhaar. _FRANZISKA laughs out._ GEORGE An' that just shows you: Pride goeth before a fall. Two or three weeks an' he'll be under the hammer. Then I c'n buy myself his gold watch. WERMELSKIRCH You'd better buy the whole house! GEORGE Not just now. You got to wait for the proper time to do a thing like that. An' anyhow, it's sold. Your health, gentlemen!... Your health, gentlemen! When you're through, I'll order more! What's the name o' the man that bought the house? Exner? Eh? He's goin' to bottle the spring water an' export it. He's goin' to rent out the hotel.--I'd rent it this minute if I had the money. HAUFFE Why don't you go to Henschel? He'll give it to you. GEORGE That wouldn't be as much out o' the question as you thinks. HAUFFE No, that a fac'! You're on pretty good terms with the wife! [_FRANZISKA laughs aloud._] GEORGE Well, why shouldn't I be. That there woman's not half bad. I tell you, a fellow that knows how, c'n make the women feed out o' his hand! HAUFFE Well, if you know enough to make Mrs. Henschel feed out o' your hand, you must know your business pretty well. I'll say that for you. _FABIG enters, the cord of his pack around his shoulders. He sits down modestly in a corner._ GEORGE Well, there you are; that's what I'm tellin' you! There's pretty few that could come up to me that way. But a man has to be on the lookout, or he'd get a good beatin' an' that's all! WERMELSKIRCH Well, you're not through with it yet yourself. [_SIEBENHAAR enters from the left._] Where Henschel strikes down the grass stops growing. Your servant, Mr. Siebenhaar! SIEBENHAAR [_Somewhat pale._] Good morning! GEORGE I think I'll play a game o' billiards. [_He takes up his glass and disappears behind the curtain in the rear._ SIEBENHAAR [_Sitting down at a table near the piano._] Weren't you just singing, Mr. Wermelskirch? Don't let me interrupt you, please. WERMELSKIRCH What? I? Singing? That's hardly possible! You know how deeply this business affects me. But if you say so it must be true. Permit me to sit down by you. Bring me a glass of beer, too, Franziska! SIEBENHAAR When one considers that you were completely hoarse three or four years ago, you must admit that you've recuperated remarkably. WERMELSKIRCH You're quite right. But what good does it do me? I've half way crawled out of the slough. But who knows what'll happen now? FRANZISKA [_Places a glass of beer before SIEBENHAAR; to WERMELSKIRCH:_] I'll bring yours at once. SIEBENHAAR [_Having drunk._] What do you mean by that, exactly? WERMELSKIRCH I don't know that I can tell you very exactly what I do mean. But I feel something in my bones. I believe there'll be a change in the weather. Jesting aside--I have all kinds of omens that are familiar to an old actor. When the waters here began to do me so much good, I knew certainly that ten horses couldn't drag me away. And it wasn't a month before my road company had gone to smash. Now I suppose I'll have to wander on in the same old way again--who knows whither? SIEBENHAAR Who knows whither? That's the way of the world. As for me--I'm not sorry! WERMELSKIRCH Ah, but you're a man in the prime of life. The world has a place for a man like you everywhere. It's different with an old fellow like me. If I lose my means of making a living, I mean, if I'm given notice, what is there left me, I'd like to know? I might actually get me a hurdy-gurdy and Franziska could go about and collect the pennies. FRANZISKA That wouldn't embarrass me a bit, papa! WERMELSKIRCH Not if it were to rain gold pieces! FRANZISKA And, anyhow, papa, how you always talk! You could go back on the stage! WERMELSKIRCH Not even at a monkey-show, girlie! SIEBENHAAR Did Mr. Exner intimate anything to you? According to what he told me he meant to leave everything pretty much as it is. WERMELSKIRCH Well, I hardly belong to what could be summed up as "everything." MRS. WERMELSKIRCH [_Approaching the table in great excitement._] I must say, Mr. Siebenhaar, I must say ... And you can take my word for it! I'm an old woman of fifty and I've seen a good deal of the world, but the way we've been treated here--that's really--I don't know what to call it--but it's just vulgar malice, the lowest kind of scheming, pure meanness. You can take my word for that! WERMELSKIRCH Oh, mother, are you starting in too? You'd better withdraw, if you don't mind, and retire behind your barricade! MRS. WERMELSKIRCH I'd like to know what our little Fanny did to that woman! FRANZISKA Oh, never mind, mama! MRS. WERMELSKIRCH On the contrary! Are we to put up with everything? Isn't one to offer any resistance if that woman robs us of our very bread--if she spreads slander about our daughter? [_To SIEBENHAAR._] Did the child ever offend you in any way? WERMELSKIRCH Mama, mama! Come along now, mama, and rest a while. So! You spoke your part very well indeed. You can repeat it to-night. [_He leads her behind the bar where her sobbing is heard for some time after._ WERMELSKIRCH [_Having resumed his seat._] She's quite right at bottom. I've heard all kinds of rumours too, to the effect that Henschel will rent the barroom. And, of course, his wife is behind that! HAUFFE An' who else'd be back of it I'd like to know? If there's anythin' low happenin' in the village nowadays, you don't has to go an ax who's back of it! That Henschel woman's got the devil in her! FABIG An' she's had her eye on the barroom this long time. SIEBENHAAR [_To_ HAUFFE.] One hardly ever sees you any longer, Hauffe? Where did you land? HAUFFE Where d'you suppose? In misery an' hunger' An' who gave me the shove? That damned crittur of a woman! Who else'd do it, I'd like to know! I never had no trouble with Henschel! FABIG His wife has the breeches on--that's all! HAUFFE I wasn't quick enough for her no more. I'm not as young as I was--that's a fac'! An' I don't go hangin' aroun' no woman's apron strings neither. An' that there is what she wants. That's what you got to do with her! She's a hot one--you might say--she don't never get enough.--But as for workin': I c'n work! Them young fellers that she hires--they're that stinkin' lazy.... I could do as much as any three of 'em. SIEBENHAAR One feels sorry for old Henschel. HAUFFE If he's satisfied, I don't care. But he ought to know why my bones is stiff! They didn't get stiff with lazyin' aroun', an' if that man has a chest full o' money to-day, he knows who it is that helped him earn a good lot of it! SIEBENHAAR I recall very well that you even worked for Wilhelm Henschel's father. HAUFFE Well, who else but me! That's the way it is! An' I fed Wilhelm's horses eighteen years an' more--hitched 'em up an' unhitched 'em--went on trips summer an' winter. I drove 's far's Freiburg an' 's far's Breslau: I had to drive 'way to Bromberg. Many a night I had to sleep in the waggon. I got my ears an' my hands frost bitten: I got chilblains on both feet big as pears. An' now he puts me out! Now I c'n go! FABIG That's all the woman's doin's: he's a good man. HAUFFE Why did he go an' load hisself with that wench! Now he can look out for hisself! An' he couldn't hardly wait to do it decent. His first wife--she wasn't hardly cold when he ran to get married to this one! SIEBENHAAR Well, no one knew her, of course. FABIG I knew her well enough. O Lord--that I did! If he'd ha' axed me, I could ha' told him! If he wanted to send Gustel after her mother, there wasn't no surer way for him to take: all he had to do was to make Hanne the child's step-mother. HAUFFE Ah yes, yes ... well, well ... I'm not sayin' nothin' more. There's many a one has shaken his head about that! But that'll be comin' home to him some day. First people just wondered; now they'd believe anythin' of him. SIEBENHAAR That's undoubtedly mere idle talk. _The horse dealer WALTHER enters in riding boots, hunting jacket and cap. His whip is in his hand. He sits down at one of the tables and beckons FRANZISKA to bring him beer._ HAUFFE You c'n say that. Maybe it's true. But if the dead was to come back an' was to say their say--'tis old Mrs. Henschel that could tell you a thing or two. She couldn't live an' she didn't want to live! An' what's the main thing--she wasn't to live! SIEBENHAAR Hauffe, you'd better take care! If Henschel were to get wind of that ... HAUFFE I wouldn't have to take care if he did! I'd say that to anyone's face. Old Mrs. Henschel--she was meant to die! If they pisened her, I couldn't say; I wasn't on the spot. But that thing didn't happen no natural way. She was a well woman; she might ha' lived thirty years. _SIEBENHAAR drinks and rises._ WALTHER I c'n bear witness that she was well. She was my own sister an' I ought to know. She was in the way an' had to go. _SIEBENHAAR leaves quietly._ WERMELSKIRCH Would you like a little snuff, gentlemen? [_Softly and confidentially._] And don't you think, gentlemen, that you're going a little far? It seems so to me. I wish you would watch the man. He sat here till quite late yesterday. The man sighed so pitifully--there was no one else here--that I really felt very sorry for him. HAUFFE 'Tis his bad conscience that's botherin' him! WALTHER Don't talk to me about Henschel! I'm sick o' hearin' about him. He an' me--we're through with each other this long time. WERMELSKIRCH No, no, Mr. Siebenhaar is right. One ought to feel sorry for him. WALTHER He c'n think about it what he pleases. I don't care. But what I ought to think about Henschel--there's nobody that need tell me nothin' about that! _HENSCHEL and the smith HILDEBRANT enter at the right. HENSCHEL is carrying little BERTHA, more neatly dressed than formerly, on his arm. A little pause of embarrassment falls upon the men._ WERMELSKIRCH Welcome, Mr. Henschel. HENSCHEL Good mornin', all of ye. FRANZISKA Well, Berthel, how are you? HENSCHEL Say thank you! Well, can't you talk?--We gets along. A body has to be satisfied. Good mornin', brother. [_He stretches out his hand carelessly to WALTHER who takes it in the same fashion._] How are you? How's everythin'? WALTHER I gets along as usual. 'Twouldn't be bad if it was better! You're a reg'lar nurse girl nowadays! HENSCHEL True, true! 'Tis almost that! WALTHER You're hardly ever seen without the girl. Can't you leave her with her mother? HENSCHEL She's always scourin' an' workin'. The little thing is just in her way! [_He sits down on a bench along the wall near the bar, not far from his brother-in-law. He keeps the little girl on his lap. HILDEBRANT sits down opposite him._] How is it, Hildebrant, what shall we have? I think we've earned a bumper o' beer? Two of 'em, then, an two glasses o' brandy. HILDEBRANT That son of a--actually broke my skin! HENSCHEL Nothin' but a foal neither an' has the strength o'--... Good mornin', Hauffe. HAUFFE Mornin'. HENSCHEL He's a bit surly. Let's not bother him. FABIG Mr. Henschel, won't you buy something o' me? A needle box for the wife, maybe, or a pretty little comb to stick in the hair! [_All laugh._] George, the waiter, he bought one too. HENSCHEL [_Laughing good-naturedly with the others._] Don't you come botherin' me with your trash! [_To WERMELSKIRCH._] Give him a measure o' beer!--'Tis a quaint little chap he is. Who is it? HILDEBRANT 'Tis Fabig from Quolsdorf, I think--the most mischievous little scamp in the county. HENSCHEL Well, I got a little native from Quolsdorf here too. FABIG [_To BERTHA._] We're good old friends, eh? BERTHA [_To FABIG._] Why don't you dive me some nuts? FABIG Aha, she knows who I is! I'll look an' see if I c'n find some! BERTHA Outside in the waggon! FABIG No, they're here in my pocket! [_He gives them to the child._] You see, you don't get out o' the pubs. Long ago your grandfather took you along; now you got to go about with Henschel. HENSCHEL [_To BERTHA._] Tell him to attend to his bit o' trash! Tell him you're bein' looked out for! Tell him that! _GEORGE comes vivaciously out of the billiard room._ GEORGE [_Without noticing HENSCHEL._] Well,--I never saw the likes o' that! That there feller c'n eat glass like anythin'. Put it down on the reckoning, Miss Franziska: a lot o' beer! There's five o' us! FRANZISKA [_Has taken BERTHA on her arm. She goes with the child behind the bar._] Bertha won't permit it; I can't do it now! GEORGE Good heavens, Mr. Henschel, there you are too! HENSCHEL [_Without noticing GEORGE, to HILDEBRANT._] Your health, Hildebrant! [_They clink their glasses and drink._ FABIG [_To GEORGE who, a little taken aback, lights his cigar at one of the tables._] Tell me this, mister George, you're a kind of a wizard, eh? GEORGE Well, I do declare! What makes you think so? FABIG 'Cause a while ago, you was gone like a light that's blown out. GEORGE Well, what's the use o' huntin' for disagreeable things. Siebenhaar an' me--we can't agree, that's all. FABIG [_With the gesture of boxing another's ears._] People do say that somethin' happened.--[_Passing by, to HAUFFE._] Did you win in the lottery? eh? HAUFFE You damned vermin! FABIG Yes, that's just what I am. HENSCHEL Is it true that you're working down at Nentwich's now? HAUFFE What business is it o' yours? HENSCHEL [_Laughing and quite even-tempered._] Now look at that feller. He pricks like a weasel wherever you touches him. WALTHER I s'pose you'll be our host here pretty soon now? HENSCHEL [_After he has glanced at him in astonishment._] That's the first ever I've heard of it! WALTHER Oh, I thought! I don't know exackly who 'twas that told me. HENSCHEL [_Drinking: indifferently._] Whoever told you that must ha' been dreamin'! [_Pause._] HILDEBRANT In this here house everythin' is bein' turned upside down now. An' what I says is this: You'll be all sighin' to have Siebenhaar back some day. HENSCHEL [_To HAUFFE._] You might go over to Landeshut. I got two coach horses standin' there. You might ride them in for me. HAUFFE The hell I will--that's what I'll do for you. HENSCHEL [_Laughing and calmly._] Well, now you c'n sit there till you gets blue in the face. I won't concern myself that much about you! HAUFFE You c'n keep busy sweepin' before your own door. HENSCHEL 'Tis well, 'tis well. We'll let that there be. HAUFFE You got filth enough in your own house! HENSCHEL Hauffe, I tell you right now: I wouldn't like to do it. But if you're goin' to start trouble here--I tell you that--I'll kick you out! WERMELSKIRCH Peace, gentlemen! I beg of you: peace! HAUFFE You're not the host here an' you can't kick nobody out! You has no more right to say anythin' here than me! I don't let you nor nobody tell me to hold my tongue. No, not you an' not your wife, no matter how you scheme, you two! That don't scare me an' don't bother me that much! _Without any show of anger, HENSCHEL grasps HAUFFE by the chest and pushes him, struggling in vain, toward the door. Just before reaching it he turns slightly, opens the door, puts HAUFFE out, and closes it again. During this scene the following colloquy takes place:_ HAUFFE Let go, I tell you! I just warn you: let go! WERMELSKIRCH Mr. Henschel, that won't do; I can't permit that! HENSCHEL I gave you fair warnin'! There's no help for you now. HAUFFE Are you goin' to choke me? Let go, I tell you! You're not the host here! MRS. WERMELSKIRCH [_From behind the bar._] What's the meaning of this? That will never do, Ludwig! You can't permit yourself to be treated that way! FABIG [_While HENSCHEL, holding HAUFFE, is rapidly approaching the door._] You might as well let it be. There's nothin' to be done. That there man--he's like an athlete. He'll bite his teeth into the edge of a table, and he'll lift the table up for you so steady, you won't notice a glass on it shakin'. If he went an' took the notion, I tell you, we'd all be flyin' out into the street different ways! _HAUFFE has been put out, HENSCHEL returns._ HENSCHEL [_Resuming his seat amid a general silence._] He wouldn't give no rest--he's that stubborn. FIRST FIREMAN [_Who has come in out of the billiard room and drunk a glass of whisky at the bar._] I'd like to pay. A man had better go. In the end anybody might be flyin' out o' here, you know. WERMELSKIRCH Yon take another glass of beer. That would be the last straw. After all, I am still master here. WALTHER If that's the way you're goin' to do, Henschel, when you stands behind the bar and runs this here place instead o' Wermelskirch--you won't keep many customers, I c'n tell you that! HENSCHEL Customers like that don't matter. WALTHER You won't be able to pick 'em out, though. Hauffe don't pay with counterfeit money neither. HENSCHEL He c'n pay anyway he wants to, for all I care. But I tell you again now: Don't start that there business over again. I won't be takin' this place at all. If I was goin' to take it, I ought to know better than anybody else. Well, then: if I'm ready to buy a pub some day--I'll let you know! Afterward you c'n give me your advice. An' if you don't like the place an' don't patronise it--well, then, Lord A'mighty, you don't has to! _The FIREMAN goes out slamming the door angrily behind him._ WALTHER I s'pose it's just as well to go.... [_He prepares to pay his score._ WERMELSKIRCH Mr. Henschel, surely that isn't right of you. You drive my customers out. HENSCHEL Well, my goodness! Now tell me: If that man runs out, what has I to do with it? For my part he can stay here till mornin'. WALTHER [_Pocketing his money again._] You got no right to put anybody out o' here. You're not the host. HENSCHEL Anythin' else you know? WALTHER People knows a good deal. Only they rather keep still. Wermelskirch knows that best of all! WERMELSKIRCH Why I exactly? Now, look here, that's ... HENSCHEL [_Firmly and collectedly._] What is't you know? Out with it! One o' you knows one thing an' another another, an' altogether you don't know that much! [_Pause._] WALTHER [_In a changed tone._] If you were only the same man you used to be! But God only knows what's gotten into you! In those days you had a standin' among men. People came from far an' wide to get your advice. An' what you said, that was--you might say--almost like the law o' the land. 'Twas like Amen in church. An' now there's no gettin' along with you! HENSCHEL Go right ahead with your preachin'. WALTHER Very well, I s'pose you're noticin' it all yourself. Formerly, you had nothin' but friends. Nowadays nobody comes to you no more; an' even if they did want to come they stay away on account o' your wife. Twenty years Hauffe served you faithful. Then, suddenly, he don't suit your wife, an' you take him by the scruff an' put him out. What's the meanin' o' that! That woman has but to look at you an' you're jumpin' at her beck, instead o' goin' an' takin' a stout rope an' knockin' the wickedness out o' her! HENSCHEL If you don't keep still this minute--I'll take you by the scruff too. GEORGE [_To HENSCHEL._] Don't forget yourself, whatever you do, Mr. Henschel! That man don't know no better, you see. [_Exit rapidly into the billiard room._ WALTHER I believe, Henschel, if a man comes nowadays an' tells you the truth, you're capable o' flingin' him against the wall. But a feller like that, a worthless windbag like George--he c'n lie to you day an' night. Your wife an' he--they c'n compete with each other makin' a fool o' you! If you want to be cheated--all right! But if you got a pair o' eyes left in your head, open 'em once an' look around you an' look at that there feller good an' hard. Them two deceive you in broad daylight! HENSCHEL [_About to hurl himself upon WALTHER, masters his rage._] What did you say--eh? Nothin'! Aw, it's all right. [_Pause._] FABIG It's reg'lar April weather this day. Now the sun shines an' now it blows again. HAUFFE'S VOICE [_From without._] I'll pay you back for this! You watch out! You c'n let it be now! We'll meet again: we'll meet at court--that's where. WALTHER [_Finishes his glass._] Good-bye. I'm meanin' well by you, Henschel. HENSCHEL [_Lays his hand about WALTHER'S wrist._] You stay here! Y' understan'? WALTHER What is I to do here? HENSCHEL You'll see for yourself. All I says is: You stay! [_To FRANZISKA._] Go down an' tell my wife she's to come up! _FRANZISKA goes._ WERMELSKIRCH But, dear Mr. Henschel, I beg you, for heaven's sake, don't cause a scandal here! The police will be coming at me next, and then ... HENSCHEL [_In an outburst of towering, withering rage--bluish-red of face._] I'll beat you all to death if Hanne don't come here--now!!! WALTHER [_In helpless perplexity._] Wilhelm, Wilhelm, don' go an' commit some foolishness now! I wish I hadn't said nothin'. An' it didn't mean nothin'. You know yourself how people will talk! HILDEBRANT Wilhelm, you're a good man. Come to your senses! My God, how you look! Think, man, think! Why, you fairly roared! What's the matter with you? That must ha' been heard all over the house! HENSCHEL Anybody c'n hear me now that wants to. But you stay here an' Hanne is to come here. WALTHER Why should I be stayin' here? I don't know what for! Your affairs--they don't concern me a bit. I don't mingle in 'em an' I don't want to! HENSCHEL Then you should ha' thought before you spoke! WALTHER Everythin' else that's between us'll be settled in court. There we'll see who's in the right. I'll get hold o' my money; never fear! Maybe you're wife'll think it over once or twice before she goes an' perjures herself. The rest don't concern me. I tell you to let me go. I has no time. I has to go to Hartau, an' I can't be kept waitin' here. _SIEBENHAAR re-enters._ SIEBENHAAR What's happened here? WERMELSKIRCH Goodness, gracious, I don't know! I don't know what Mr. Henschel wants! HENSCHEL [_Who continues to imprison WALTHER'S wrist._] Hanne is to come here: that's all. MRS. WERMELSKIRCH [_To SIEBENHAAR._] The men were drinking their beer quite peacefully. Suddenly Mr. Henschel came in and began a dispute as though he were master here. SIEBENHAAR [_With a deprecating gesture._] All right; all right. [_To HENSCHEL._] What's happened to you, Henschel? HENSCHEL Mr. Siebenhaar, it's no fault o' mine. I couldn't help things comin' about this way. You may think what you please, Mr. Siebenhaar. I give you my word--'twasn't my fault. SIEBENHAAR You needn't excuse yourself to me, Henschel. I know you're a man of peace. HENSCHEL Yes. I was in your father's service long ago, an' even if it looks that way a thousand times over--it wasn't my fault that this here has happened. I don't know myself what I has done. I never was quarrelsome--that's certain! But now things has come about ...! They scratch an' they bite at me--all of 'em! An' now this man here has said things o' my wife that he's got to prove--prove!!--or God help him! SIEBENHAAR Why don't you let the people gossip? HENSCHEL Proofs! Proofs! Or God help him! WALTHER I can prove it an' I will. There are not many people in this room that don't know it as well as I. That there woman is on an evil way. 'Tis no fault o' mine, an' I wouldn't ha' mentioned it. But I'm not goin' to let you strike me. I'm no liar. I always speaks the truth! Ask it of anybody! Ask Mr. Siebenhaar here on his honour an' conscience! The sparrows is twitterin' it on every roof--an' worse things 'n that! SIEBENHAAR Think over what you're saying carefully, Walther. WALTHER He forces me to it! Why don't he let me go? Why is I to suffer for other people? You know it all as well as I? How did you used to stand with Henschel in other years when his first wife was alive? D'you think people don't know that? An' now you don't cross his threshold. SIEBENHAAR The relations between us are our private affair. And I will not permit remark or interference. WALTHER All right. But if first his wife dies, though she's as well as anybody, an' when Gustel goes an' dies eight weeks later, then, I'm thinkin' it's more'n a private affair! HENSCHEL What?--Hanne is to come! _MRS. HENSCHEL enters suddenly and quickly, just as she has come from her work and still drying her hands._ MRS. HENSCHEL What're you roarin' about so? HENSCHEL 'Tis well that you're here.--This man here says-- MRS. HENSCHEL [_Makes a movement as if to go._] Damned rot that it ... HENSCHEL You're to stay here! MRS. HENSCHEL Are you all drunk together? What're you thinkin' of, anyhow? D'you think I'm goin' to stay here an' play monkey tricks for you? [_She is about to go._ HENSCHEL Hanne, I advise you ... This man here says ... MRS. HENSCHEL Aw, he c'n say what he wants to, for all I cares! HENSCHEL He says that you deceive me before my face an' behind my back! MRS. HENSCHEL What? What? What? What? HENSCHEL That's what he says! Is he goin' to dare to say that? An' that ... my wife ... MRS. HENSCHEL Me? Lies! Damned lies! [_She throws her apron over her face and rushes out._ HENSCHEL That I ... that my wife ... that we together ... that our Gustel ... 'Tis well! 'Tis well! [_He releases WALTHER'S hand and lets his head sink, moaning, on the table._ WALTHER I won't be made out a liar here. THE CURTAIN FALLS. THE FIFTH ACT _The same room as in the first three acts. It is night, but the moonlight throws a moderate brightness into the room. It is empty. Several days have passed since the occurrences in the fourth act._ _A candle is lit in the small adjoining room; at the end of a few seconds HENSCHEL enters, carrying the candle in a candlestick of tin. He wears leathern breeches but his feet are cased in bedroom slippers. Slowly he approaches the table, gazes hesitatingly first backward, then toward the window, finally puts the candlestick on the table and sits down by the window. He leans his chin on his hand and stares at the moon._ MRS. HENSCHEL [_Invisible, from the adjoining chamber, calls:_] Husband! Husband! What are you doin' out there?--the same mortal foolishness all the time! --[_She looks in, but half-clad._] Where are you? Come 'n go to bed! 'Tis time to sleep! To-morrow you won't be able to go out again! You'll be lyin' like a sack o' meal and everythin' 'll go upside down in the yard. [_She comes out, half-clad as she is, and approaches HENSCHEL hesitatingly and fearfully._] What are you doin', eh? HENSCHEL --Me? MRS. HENSCHEL Why are you sittin' there an' not sayin' a word? HENSCHEL I'm lookin' at the clouds. MRS. HENSCHEL Oh, no, my goodness; it's enough to confuse a person's head! What's to be seen up there, I'd like to know! The same worry, night after night. There's no rest in the world for nobody no more. What are you starin' at? Say somethin', won't you? HENSCHEL Up there!... That's where they are! MRS. HENSCHEL You're dreaming, eh? You, Wilhelm, wake up! Lay down in your bed an' go to sleep. There's nothin' but clouds up there! HENSCHEL Anybody that has eyes c'n see what there is! MRS. HENSCHEL An' anybody that gets confused in his mind goes crazy. HENSCHEL I'm not confused. MRS. HENSCHEL I'm not sayin' that you are! But if you go on actin' this way, you will be! [_She shivers, pulls on a jacket, and stirs the ashes in the oven with a poker._ HENSCHEL What time is it? MRS. HENSCHEL A quarter of two. HENSCHEL You've got a watch hangin' to you; it used to hang behind the door. MRS. HENSCHEL What fancies is you goin' to have next? 'Tis hangin' where it always did. HENSCHEL [_Rising._] I think I'll go over to the stables a bit. MRS. HENSCHEL I tells you to go to bed, or I'll raise an alarm. You got nothin' to do in the stable now! 'Tis night, an' in bed is where you belong! HENSCHEL [_Remains standing quietly and looking at HANNE._] Where's Gustel? MRS. HENSCHEL What are you botherin' for? She's lyin' in bed asleep! What are you always worritin' over the girl for? She don't lack for nothin'! I don't do nothin' to her! HENSCHEL She don't lack for nothin'. She's gone to bed. She's gone to sleep betimes--Gustel has. I don't mean Berthel. MRS. HENSCHEL [_Wailing, stuffs her apron into her mouth._] I'll run away! I won't stay here! HENSCHEL --Go to bed, go! I'll come too. Your cryin' can't help no more now. 'Tis our Lord alone knows whose fault it is. You can't help it; you don't need to cry.--Our Lord an' me--we two, we knows. _[He turns the key in the door._ MRS. HENSCHEL [_Hastily turning it back again._] Why d'you lock the door? I won't stand bein' locked in. HENSCHEL I don't rightly know why I turned the key. MRS. HENSCHEL Them people has gone an' addled your brains for you! They'll have to answer some day for the things they've put into your head! I took as good care o' your girl as I did o' my own. She wouldn't ha' died o' that! But I can't wake the dead. If a body is to die, she dies--in this world. There's no holdin' people like that; they has to go. There never was much strength in Gustel--you know that as well as I. Why do you go axin' me an' lookin' at me as if I done God knows what to her! HENSCHEL [_Suspiciously._] Maybe you did somethin'. 'Tis not impossible. MRS. HENSCHEL [_Beside herself._] Oh, if somebody'd foretold this--I'd ha' gone beggin' my bread first. No, no, O my goodness, if I'd ha' known that! To have to listen to things like that! Didn't I want to go? An' who kept me back? Who held me fast in the house here? I could ha' made my livin' any time! I wasn't afraid; I could always work. But you didn't let up. Now I got my reward. Now _I_ got to suffer for it! HENSCHEL 'Tis true, maybe, that you has to suffer for it. Things comes _as_ they come. What c'n a body do? [_He locks the door again._ MRS. HENSCHEL You're to leave the door open, Wilhelm, or I'll cry for help! HENSCHEL --Sh! Keep still! Did you hear? There's somethin' runnin' along the passage. D'you hear? Now it goes to the washstand. D'you hear the splashin'? She's standin' there an' washin' herself! MRS. HENSCHEL You! Wilhelm! You're dreamin'! The wash-stand is in here! HENSCHEL That's just it! I know very well! They can't deceive me. I know what I know, [_Hurriedly._] That's all I say.--Come, come, let's go to bed. Time'll show. [_While he approaches the door of the next room, Mrs. HENSCHEL softly unlocks the door to the hall and slips out._ HENSCHEL [_Taking down a whip from the frame of the door._] Why, that's my old Triest whip! Where does that old thing come from? I haven't seen it for over a year. That was bought in mother's time. [_He listens._] What d'you say? Eh?--O' course ... Certainly.--Nothin'!--Well, s'posin'! An' why not? 'Tis well!--I know what I has to do!--I won't be stubborn.--You let that be too. _SIEBENHAAR enters by the door which is slightly ajar. By means of gestures he signifies to WERMELSKIRCH, who follows him, that the latter is to remain behind, also to MRS. HENSCHEL. He is fully clad except that he wears a silk kerchief instead of a collar. WERMELSKIRCH is in his dressing-gown._ SIEBENHAAR Good evening, Mr. Henschel! What? Are you still up? You're not well, eh? What's the matter with you? HENSCHEL [_After he has, for several seconds, regarded him with perplexity; simply:_] I just can't sleep. I don't get sleepy at all! I'd like to take some medicine, if I knew any. I don't know how it comes. God knows! SIEBENHAAR I'll tell you somethin', old friend: You go quietly to bed now, and to-morrow, real early, I'll send the doctor in. You must really take some serious step now. HENSCHEL No doctor won't be able to help me. SIEBENHAAR You mustn't say that; we'll see about that! Doctor Richter knows his business. My wife couldn't sleep for weeks; her head ached as if it would burst. Last Monday she took a powder, and now she sleeps all night like the dead. HENSCHEL Yes, yes ... well, well ... 'Tis possible! I'd like it well enough if I could sleep.--Is the madam reel sick? SIEBENHAAR Oh, we're all a little under the weather. When once Monday is past, everything will straighten out again. HENSCHEL I s'pose you ha