HOFFMANN
Honestly, it does sound a little hollow. After all, other people are not
necessarily savages, even if they are married. But some men act as though
they had a monopoly of all the good deeds that are to be done in the
world.
LOTH
[_With some heat._] Not at all! I'm not thinking of such a thing. If you
hadn't abandoned your life's work, your happy material situation would be
of the greatest assistance ...
HOFFMANN
[_Ironically._] So that would be one of your demands, too?
LOTH
Demands? How? What?
HOFFMANN
I mean that, in marrying, you would have an eye on money.
LOTH
Unquestionably.
HOFFMANN
And then--if I know you at all--there's quite a list of demands still to
come.
LOTH
So there is. The woman, for instance, must have physical and mental
health. That's a _conditio sine qua non_.
HOFFMANN
[_Laughing._] Better and better! I suppose then that a previous medical
examination of the lady would be necessary.
LOTH
[_Quite seriously_.] You must remember that I make demands upon myself
too.
HOFFMANN
[_More and more amused._] I know, I know! I remember your going through
all the literature of love once in order to determine quite
conscientiously whether that which you felt at that time for a certain
lady was really the tender passion. So, let's hear a few more of your
demands.
LOTH
My wife, for instance, would have to practice renunciation.
HELEN
If ... if ... Ah, I don't know whether it's right to ... but I merely
wanted to say that women, as a rule, are accustomed to renounce.
LOTH
For heaven's sake! You understand me quite wrongly. I did not mean
renunciation in the vulgar sense. I would demand renunciation only in so
far, or, rather, I would simply ask my wife to resign voluntarily and
gladly that part of myself which belongs to my chosen work. No, no, in
regard to every thing else, it is my wife who is to make demands--to
demand all that her sex has forfeited in the course of thousands of
years.
HOFFMANN
Oho, oho! Emancipation of woman! Really, that sudden turn was
admirable--now you are in the right channel. Fred Loth, or the agitator
in a vest-pocket edition. How would you formulate your demands in this
respect, or rather: to what degree would yam wife have to be
emancipated?--It really amuses me to hear you talk! Would she have to
smoke cigars? Wear breeches?
LOTH
Hardly that. I would want her, to be sure, to have risen above certain
social conventions. I should not want her, for instance, to hesitate, if
she felt genuine love for me, to be the first to make the avowal.
HOFFMANN
[_Has finished his breakfast. He jumps up in half-humorous, half-serious
indignation._] Do you know? That ... that is a really _shameless_ demand.
And I prophesy, too, that you'll go about with it unfulfilled to your
very end--unless you prefer to drop it first.
HELEN
[_Mastering her deep emotion with difficulty._] If you gentlemen will
excuse me now--the household ... You know [_to HOFFMANN_] that mama is
upstairs and so ...
HOFFMANN
Don't let us keep you.
_HELEN bows and withdraws._
HOFFMANN
[_Holding a match case in his hand and walking over to the cigar-box
which stands on the table._] There's no doubt ... you do get a man
excited ... it's almost uncanny. [_He takes a cigar from the box and sits
down on the sofa in the foreground, left. He cuts off the end of his
cigar, and, during what follows, he holds the cigar in his left, the
severed end between the fingers of his right hand._] In spite of all that
... it does amuse me. And then, you don't know how good it feels to pass
a few days in the country this way, away from all business matters. If
only to-day this confounded ... how late is it anyhow? Unfortunately I
have to go into town to a dinner to-day. It couldn't be helped: I had to
give this banquet. What are you going to do as a business man? Tit for
tat. The mine officials are used to that sort of thing.--Well, I've got
time enough to smoke another cigar--quite in peace, too.
[_He carries the cigar end to a cuspidor, sits down on the sofa again
and lights his cigar._]
LOTH
[_Stands at the table and turns the leaves of a deluxe volume._] "The
Adventures of Count Sandor."
HOFFMANN
You'll find that trash among all the farmers in the neighbourhood.
LOTH
[_Still turning the leaves._] How old is your sister-in-law?
HOFFMANN
She was twenty-one last August.
LOTH
Is she in delicate health?
HOFFMANN
Don't know. I hardly think so, though. Does she make that impression on
you?
LOTH
She really looks rather worried than ill.
HOFFMANN
Well, if you consider all the miseries with her step-mother ...
LOTH
She seems to be rather excitable, too.
HOFFMANN
In such an environment ... I should like to see any one who wouldn't
become excitable.
LOTH
She seems to possess a good deal of energy.
HOFFMANN
Stubbornness.
LOTH
Deep feeling, too?
HOFFMANN
Too much at times ...
LOTH
But if the conditions here are so unfortunate for her, why doesn't your
sister-in-law live with _your_ family?
HOFFMANN
You'd better ask her that! I've often enough made her the offer. Women
have these fancies, that's all. [_Holding the cigar in his mouth,
HOFFMANN takes out a note-book and adds a fete items._] You'll forgive
me, won't you, if I have to leave you alone after a while?
LOTH
Assuredly.
HOFFMANN
How long do you think of stay--
LOTH
I mean to look for a lodging very soon. Where does Schimmelpfennig live?
The best thing would be to go to see him. He would _probably_ be able to
secure one for me. I hope that I'll soon find a suitable place, otherwise
I'll spend the night at the inn next door.
HOFFMANN
Why should you? Of course you'll stay with us till morning, at least. To
be sure, I'm only a guest in this house myself, otherwise I'd naturally
ask you to ... you understand?
LOTH
Perfectly.
HOFFMANN
But do tell me, were you really quite serious when you said ...
LOTH
That I would spend the night at an inn...?
HOFFMANN
Nonsense ... Of course not!... I mean what you mentioned a while
ago--that business about your ridiculous descriptive essay?
LOTH
Why not?
HOFFMANN
I must confess that I thought you were jesting. [_He gets up and speaks
confidentially and half-humorously._] Now, you don't mean to say you're
really capable of undermining the ground here where a friend of yours has
been fortunate enough to get a firm foothold?
LOTH
You may take my word for it, Hoffmann; I had no idea that you were here.
If I had known that ...
HOFFMANN
[_Jumps up, delighted._] Very well, then; very well. If that's the way
things are. And I assure you I'm more than glad that I was not mistaken
in you. So now you do know that I am here. It goes without saying that
I'll make up to you all your travelling expenses and all extras. No, you
needn't be so excessively delicate. It's simply my duty as a friend ...
Now I recognise my excellent old friend again. But I tell you: for a time
I had very serious suspicions of you ... Now you ought to know this,
however. Frankly, I'm not as bad as I sometimes pretend to be, not by any
means. I have always honoured you, you and your sincere, single-minded
efforts. And I'm the last man to fail to attach weight to certain demands
of the exploited, oppressed masses, demands which are, most
unfortunately, only too well justified.--Oh, you may smile. I'll go
further and confess that there is just one party in parliament that has
any true ideals, and that's the party to which you belong! Only--as I
said before--we must go slowly, slowly!--not try to rush things through.
Everything is coming, surely coming about exactly as it ought to. Only
patience! Patience ...
LOTH
One must have patience. That is certain. But one isn't justified on that
account in folding one's hands in idleness.
HOFFMANN
Exactly my opinion.--As a matter of fact my thoughts have oftener been in
accord with you than my words. It's a bad habit of mine, I admit, I fell
into it in intercourse with people to whom I didn't always want to show
my hand.... Take the question, of woman, for instance ... You expressed a
good many things quite strikingly. [_He has, in the meantime, approached
the telephone, taken up the receiver and now speaks alternately into the
telephone and to LOTH._] My little sister-in-law, by the way, was all ear
... [_Into the telephone._] Frank! I want the carriage in ten minutes ...
[_To LOTH._] You made an impression on her ... [_Into the telephone._]
What--oh, nonsense!--well, that beats everything ... Then hitch up the
black horses at once ... [_To LOTH._] And why shouldn't you?... [_Into
the telephone._] Well, upon my...! To the milliner, you say? The madame?
The ma--! Well, very well, then. But at once! Oh, very well! Yes! What's
the--! [_He presses the button of the servants' bell. To LOTH._] You just
wait. Give me a chance to heap up the necessary mountain of shekels, and
maybe you'll see something happen ... [_EDWARD has entered._] Edward, my
leggings, my walking-coat! [_EDWARD withdraws_.] Maybe something will
happen then that you fellows wouldn't believe of me now ... If, at the
end of two or three days--you must stay with us so long by all means--I'd
consider it a real insult if you didn't--[_he slips out of his
dressing-gown_]--if, at the end of two or three days, you're ready to go.
I'll drive you over to the train.
_EDWARD enters carrying gaiters and walking-coat._
HOFFMANN
[_Permitting himself to be helped on with the coat._] So-o! [_Sitting
down on a chair._] Now the boots. [_After he has pulled on one of them._]
There's number one!
LOTH
Perhaps you didn't quite understand me after all.
HOFFMANN
Surely, that's quite possible. A fellow gets out of touch with things.
Nothing but musty business affairs. Edward, hasn't the mail come yet?
Wait a minute!--Do go up into my room. You'll find a document in a blue
cover on the left side of my desk. Get that and put it into the carriage.
_EDWARD goes through the door at the right, reappears through the
middle-door and then withdraws._
LOTH
I simply meant that you hadn't understood me in one particular respect.
HOFFMANN
[_Worrying his foot into the other shoe._] Ouch! There! [_He rises and
stamps his feet._] There we are. Nothing is more disagreeable than tight
shoes ... What were you saying just now?
LOTH
You were speaking of my departure ...
HOFFMANN
Well?
LOTH
But I thought I had explained that I must stay here for a specific
purpose.
HOFFMANN
[_In extreme consternation and thoroughly indignant at once._] Look
here!... That comes near being caddish!--Don't you know what you owe me
as your friend?
LOTH
Not, I hope, the betrayal of my cause!
HOFFMANN
[_Beside himself._] Well then--in that case--I haven't the slightest
motive for treating you as a friend. And so I tell you that I consider
your appearance and demeanour here--to put it mildly--incredibly
impudent.
LOTH
[_Quite calmly._] Perhaps you'll explain what gives you the right to use
such epithets ...
HOFFMANN
Yon want an explanation of that? That is going to an extreme! Not to feel
a thing like that it's necessary to have a rhinoceros-hide instead of
skin on one's back! You come here, enjoy my hospitality, thresh out a few
of your thread-bare phrases, turn my sister-in-law's head, go on about
old friendship and other pleasant things, and then you tell me quite
coolly: you're going to write a descriptive pamphlet about the local
conditions. Why, what do you take me to be, anyhow? D'you suppose I don't
know that these so-called essays are merely shameless libels?... You want
to write a denunciation like that, and about our coal district, of all
places! Are you so blind that you can't see whom such a rag would harm
most keenly? Only me, of course! I tell you, the trade that you
demagogues drive ought to be more firmly stamped out than has been done
up to now! What is it you do? You make the miners discontented,
presumptuous; you stir them up, embitter them, make them rebellious,
disobedient, wretched! Then you delude them with promises of mountains of
gold, and, in the meantime, grab out of their pockets the few pennies
that keep them from starving!
LOTH
Do you consider yourself unmasked now?
HOFFMANN
[_Brutally._] Oh, pshaw! You ridiculous, pompous wind-bag! What do you
suppose I care about being unmasked by you?--Go to work! Leave off this
silly drivelling!--Do something! Get ahead! I don't need to sponge on any
one for two-hundred marks!
[_He rushes out through the middle door._
_For several moments LOTH looks calmly after him. Then, no less
calmly, he draws a card case out of his inner pocket, takes a slip of
paper therefrom--HOFFMANN'S cheque--and tears it through several
times. Then he drops the scraps slowly into the coal-bin. Hereupon he
takes his hat and cane and turns to go. At this moment HELEN appears
on the threshold of the conservatory._
HELEN
[_Softly._] Mr. Loth!
LOTH
[_Quivers and turns._] Ah, it is you.--Well, then I can at least say
farewell to _you_.
HELEN
[_In spite of herself._] Did you feel the need of doing that?
LOTH
Yes! I did feel it, indeed. Probably, if you were in there, you heard
what has taken place here, and--in that case....
HELEN
I heard everything.
LOTH
In that case it won't astonish you to see me this house with so little
ceremony.
HELEN
No-o! I do understand--! But I should like you to feel less harshly
toward my brother-in-law. He always repents very quickly. I have
often....
LOTH
Quite possibly. But for that very reason what he has said just now
probably expresses his true opinion of me.--In fact, it is undoubtedly
his real opinion.
HELEN
Do you seriously believe that?
LOTH
Oh, yes, quite seriously. And so.... [_He walks toward her and takes her
hand._] I hope that life will be kind to you. [_He turns but at once
stops again._] I don't know...! or rather:--[_he looks calmly and
directly into HELEN'S face_]--I do know, I know--at this moment the
knowledge becomes clear--that it is not so easy for me to go away from
here ... and ... yes ... and ... well, yes...!
HELEN
But if I begged you--begged you truly--from my heart ... to stay a little
longer--
LOTH
So you do not share Hoffmann's opinion?
HELEN
No!--and that--that is just what I wanted to be sure--quite sure to tell
you, before ... before--you--went.
LOTH
[_Grasps her hand once more._] It helps me _much_ to hear you say that.
HELEN
[_Struggling with herself. Her excitement mounts rapidly and to the point
of unconsciousness. She stammers out half-chokingly._] And more, oh, more
I wanted to ... to tell you ... that I esteem and ... and ... honour you
as ... I've done no ... man before ... that I trust ... you ... that I'm
ready to ... to prove that ... that I feel toward you ...
[_She sinks, swooning into his arms._
LOTH
Helen!
THE CURTAIN DROPS QUICKLY
THE FOURTH ACT
_The farmyard, as in the second act. Time: a quarter of an hour after
HELEN'S avowal._
_MARIE and GOLISCH the cowherd drag a wooden chest down the stairs
that lead to the loft. LOTH comes from the house. He is dressed for
travelling and goes slowly and thoughtfully diagonally across the
yard. Before he turns into the path that leads to the inn, he comes
upon HOFFMANN, who is hurrying toward him through the gateway._
HOFFMANN
[_In top hat and kid gloves._] Don't be angry with me. [_He obstructs
LOTH'S way and grasps both of his hands._] I take it all back herewith
... Mention any reparation you demand ... I am ready to give you any!...
I'm most truly, most sincerely sorry.
LOTH
That helps neither of us very much.
HOFFMANN
Oh, if you would just ... Look here, now...! A man can't well do more
than that. I assure you that my conscience gave me no rest! I turned back
just before reaching Jauer.... That should convince you of the
seriousness of my feeling. Where were you going?
LOTH
To the inn--for the moment.
HOFFMANN
Oh, that's an affront you simply can't offer me ... no, you
mustn't--simply, I believe that I did hurt you badly, of course. And
probably it's not the kind of thing that can be wiped out with just a few
words. Only don't rob me of any chance ... of every possibility to prove
to you ... D'you hear? Now turn back and stay at least--at least until
to-morrow. Or till ... till I come back. I want to talk it all over with
you at leisure. You can't refuse me that favour.
LOTH
If you set so much store by it all....
HOFFMANN
A great deal!... on my honour!... I care immensely. So come, come! Don't
run away!
[_He leads LOTH, who offers no further resistance, back into the
house._
_The dismissed maid and the boy have, in the meantime, placed the
chest on a wheelbarrow and GOLISCH has put on the shoulder strap._
MARIE
[_Slipping a coin into GOLISCH'S hand._] There's somethin' fer you.
GOLISCH
[_Refusing it._] Keep yer penny.
MARIE
Aw! Ye donkey!
GOLISCH
Well, I don't care.
[_He takes the coin and puts it into his leathern purse._
MRS. SPILLER
[_Appears at one of the windows of the house and calls out:_] Marie.
MARIE
What d'ye want now?
MRS. SPILLER
[_Appearing almost immediately at the door of the house._] The madame's
willing to keep you, if you promise....
MARIE
A stinkin' lot I'll promise her. Go on, Golisch!
MRS. SPILLER
[_Approaching._] The madame is willing to increase your wages, if you....
[_Whispering suddenly._] What d'ye care, girl! She just gits kinder
rough now an' then.
MARIE
[_Furiously._] She c'n keep her dirty money to herself!--[_Tearfully._]
I'd rather starve! [_She follows GOLISCH, who has preceded her with the
wheelbarrow._] Naw, just to think of it!--It's enough to make you....
[_She disappears, as does MRS. SPILLER._
_Through the great gate comes BAER called HOPPING BAER. He is a lank
fellow with a vulture's neck and goitre. His feet and head are bare.
His breeches, badly ravelled at the bottom, scarcely reach below the
knee. The top of his head is bald. Such hair as he has, brown, dusty,
and clotted, hangs down over his shoulders. His gait is ostrich-like.
By a cord he draws behind him a child's toy waggon full of sand. His
face is beardless. His whole appearance shows him to be a
god-forsaken peasant lad in the twenties._
BAER
[_With a strangely bleating voice._] Sa--a--and! Sa--a--and!
_He crosses the yard and disappears between the house and the
stables. HOFFMANN and HELEN come from the house. HELEN is pale and
carries an empty glass in her hand._
HOFFMANN
[_To HELEN._] Entertain him a bit! You understand? Don't let him go. I
should hate to have him.--Injured vanity like that!... Good-bye!... Oh,
maybe I oughtn't to go at all? How is Martha doing?--I've got a queer
kind of feeling as if pretty soon.... Nonsense!--Good-bye! ... awful
hurry!... [_Calls out._] Franz! Give the horses their heads!
[_Leaves rapidly through the main gate._
_HELEN goes to the pump, fills her glass and empties it at one
draught. She empties half of another glass. She then sets the glass
on the pump and then strolls slowly, looking backward from time to
time, through the gate-may. BAER emerges from between the house and
the stables and stops with his waggon before the house door, where
MIELE takes some sand from him. In the meantime KAHL has become
visible at the right, beyond the dividing fence. He is in
conversation with MRS. SPILLER, who is on the hither side of the
fence and therefore close to the entrance of the yard. As the
conversation proceeds, both walk slowly along the fence._
MRS. SPILLER
[_Mildly agonised._] Ah yes--m--Mr. Kahl! I have--m--many a time thought
of--m--you when ... when our--m--dear Miss Helen ... She is so
to--m--speak betrothed to you and so--m--ah! I--m--must say ... in my
time...!
KAHL
[_Mounts a rustic bench under the oak-tree and fastens a bird trap to the
lowest branch._] When is th-that b-beast of a doctor goin' to git out o'
here? Ha?
MRS. SPILLER
Ah, Mr. Kahl! I don't--m--think so very soon.--Ah, Mr. Kahl, I--m--have,
so to speak, come--m--down in the world, but I--m--know--m--what
refinement is. In this respect, Mr. Kahl, I--must say--dear Miss
Helen isn't--m--acting quite right toward you. No--m--in that
respect, so to speak--m--I've never had anything with which
to--m--reproach myself--m--my conscience, dear Mr. Kahl, is as
pure in that--m--respect--so to speak, as new-fallen snow.
_BAER has finished the sale of his sand and, at this moment, passes
by KAHL in order to leave the yard._
KAHL
[_Discovers BAER and calls out._] Heres hopping Baer! Hop a bit!
_BAER takes a, huge leap._
KAHL
[_Bellowing with laughter._] Here, hopping Baer! Hop again!
MRS. SPILLER
Well--m--Mr. Kahl, what I want to say is--m--I have the
best--m--intentions toward you. You ought to observe very--m--carefully.
Something--m--is going on between our young lady and--m--
KAHL
If I could j-jist git my d-dogs on that son of a--... Jist once!
MRS. SPILLER
[_Mysteriously._] And I'm afraid you--m--don't know what kind of an
individual that--m--is. Oh, I am so--m--truly sorry for our dear young
lady. The wife of the bailiff--she has it straight from the office, I
think. He is said to be a--m--really dangerous person. The woman said her
husband had--m--orders, just think! actually--m--to keep his eye on him.
_LOTH comes from the house and looks about._
MRS. SPILLER
You see, now he is going--m--after our young lady. Oh, it's _too_
sad--m--for anything.
KAHL
Aw! You wait an' see!
[_Exit._
_MRS. SPILLER goes to the door of the house. In passing LOTH she
makes a deep bow. Then she disappears into the house._
_LOTH disappears slowly through the gateway. The coachman's wife, an
emaciated, worried, starved woman, emerges from between the house and
the stables. She carries a large pot hidden under her apron and
slinks off toward the cow-shed, looking about fearfully at every
moment. She disappears into the door of the stable. The two MAIDS,
each before her a wheel-barrow laden with clover, enter by the gate.
BEIPST, his pipe in his mouth and his scythe across his shoulder,
follows them, LIESE has wheeled her barrow in front of the left,
AUGUSTE hers in front of the right door of the barn, and both begin
to carry great armfuls of clover into the building._
LIESE
[_Coming back out of the stable._] Guste! D'ye know, Marie is gone.
AUGUSTE
Aw, don' tell me!
LIESE
Go in there'n ask the coachman's wife. She's gittin' her a drop o' milk.
BEIPST
[_Hangs up his scythe on the wall._] Ye'd better not let that Spiller
creature get wind o' it.
AUGUSTE
Oh, Lord, no! Who'd think o' it!
LIESE
A poor woman like that with eight--
AUGUSTE
Eight little brats. They wants to be fed!
LIESE
An' they wouldn't give her a drop o' milk even. It's low, that's what I
calls it.
AUGUSTE
Where is she milkin'?
LIESE
Way back there.
BEIPST
[_Fills his pipe. Holding his tobacco-pouch with his teeth he mumbles._]
Ye say Marie's gone?
LIESE
Yes, it's true an' certain. The parson's hired man slept with her.
BEIPST
[_Replacing the tobacco-pouch in his pocket._] Everybody feels that way
sometimes--even a woman. [_He lights his pipe and disappears through the
gateway. In going:_] I'm goin' fer a bit o' breakfast.
THE COACHMAN'S WIFE
[_Hiding the pot full of milk carefully under her apron, sticks her head
out of the stable door._] Anybody in sight?
LIESE
Ye c'n come if ye'll hurry. There ain't nobody. Come! Hurry!
THE COACHMAN'S WIFE
[_Passing by the maids._] It's fer the nursin' baby.
LIESE
[_Calling out after her._] Hurry! Some one's comin'.
_THE COACHMAN'S WIFE disappears between the house and the stable._
AUGUSTE
It's only the young Miss.
_The maids now finish unloading their wheelbarrows and then thrust
them under the doorway. They both go into the cow-shed._
_HELEN and LOTH enter by the gate._
LOTH
A disgusting fellow--this Kahl--an insolent sneak.
HELEN
I think in the arbour in front--[_They pass through the small gate into
the little garden by the house and into the arbour._] It's my favourite
place, I'm less disturbed there than anywhere if, sometimes, I want to
read something.
LOTH
It's a pretty place.--Really. [_Both sit down in the arbour, consciously
keeping at some distance from one another. An interval of silence. Then
LOTH._] You have very beautiful and abundant hair.
HELEN
Yes, my brother-in-law says so too. He thought he had scarcely seen
anyone with so much--not even in the city ... The braid at the top is as
thick as my wrist ... When I let it down, it reaches to my knees. Feel
it. It's like silk, isn't it?
LOTH