[_A tremour passes through him. He bends down and kisses her hair._
HELEN
[_Frightened._] Ah, don't. If ...
LOTH
Helen! Were you in earnest a while ago?
HELEN
Oh, I am so ashamed--so deeply ashamed. What have I done? Why, I've
thrown myself at you. That's what I've done. I wonder what you take me
for?
LOTH
[_Draws nearer to her and takes her hand in his._] Ah, you mustn't let
_that_ trouble you.
HELEN
[_Sighing._] Oh, if Sister Schmittgen knew of that--I dare not imagine
it.
LOTH
Who is Sister Schmittgen?
HELEN
One of my teachers at boarding-school.
LOTH
How can you worry about Sister Schmittgen!
HELEN
She was very good.
[_Laughing heartily to herself suddenly._
LOTH
Why do you laugh all at once?
HELEN
[_Half between respect and jest._] Oh, when she stood in the choir and
sang--she had only one long tooth left--then she was supposed to sing:
"Trouble yourselves not, my people!"--and it always sounded like:
"'Rouble, 'rouble yourselves not, my people!" It was too funny. And we
always had to laugh so ... when it sounded through the chapel: "'Rouble,
'rouble!" [_She laughs more and more heartily. LOTH becomes infected by
her mirth. She seems so sweet to him at this moment that he wants to take
the opportunity to put his arms about her. HELEN wards him off._] An, no!
no! Just think! I threw myself at you!
LOTH
Oh, don't say such things!
HELEN
But it isn't my fault; you have only yourself to blame for it. Why do you
demand ...
_LOTH puts his arm about her once more and draws her closer to him.
At first she resists a little, then she yields and gazes, with frank
blessedness, into the joyous face of LOTH which bends above her.
Involuntarily, in the awkwardness of her very timidity, she kisses
his mouth. Both grow red; then LOTH returns her kiss. His caress is
long and heartfelt. A giving and taking of kisses--silent and
eloquent at once--is, for a time, all that passes between them. LOTH
is the first to speak._
LOTH
Nellie, dearest! Nellie is your name, isn't it?
HELEN
[_Kisses him._] Call me something else ... call me what you like best ...
LOTH
Dearest!...
_The exchange of kisses and of mutual contemplation is repeated._
HELEN
[_Held tight in LOTH'S arms, resting her head on his shoulder, looking up
at him with dim, happy eyes, whispers ecstatically._] Oh, how beautiful!
How beautiful!
LOTH
To die with you--thus ...
HELEN
[_Passionately._] To live!... [_She disengages herself from his
embrace._] Why die now?... now ...
LOTH
Yon must not misunderstand me. Always, in happy moments, it has come over
me with a sense of intoxication--the consciousness of the fact that it is
in our power, in my power, to embrace--you understand?
HELEN
To embrace death, if you desired it?
LOTH
[_Quite devoid of sentimentality._] Yes! And the thought of death has
nothing horrible in it for me. On the contrary, it seems like the thought
of a friend. One calls and knows surely that death will come. And so one
can rise above so many, many things--above one's past, above one's future
fate ... [_Looking at HELEN'S hand._] What a lovely hand you have.
[_He caresses it._
HELEN
Ah, yes!--so!...
[_She nestles anew in his arms._
LOTH
No, do you know, I haven't really lived--until now!
HELEN
Do you think I have?... And I feel faint--faint with happiness. Dear God,
how suddenly it all came ...
LOTH
Yes, it came all at once ...
HELEN
Listen, I feel this way: all the days of my life are like one day; but
yesterday and to-day are like a year--a whole year!
LOTH
Didn't I come till yesterday?
HELEN
Of course not! Naturally! That's just it!... Oh, and you don't even know
it!
LOTH
And surely it seems to me ...
HELEN
Doesn't it? Like a whole, long year! Doesn't it? [_Half jumping up._]
Wait...! Don't you hear ... [_They move away from each other._] Oh, but
I don't care one bit! I am so full of courage now.
[_She remains seated and invites LOTH with her eyes to move nearer,
which he does._
HELEN
[_In LOTH'S arms._] Dear, what are we going to do first?
LOTH
Your step-mother, I suppose, would send me packing.
HELEN
Oh, my step-mother ... that won't matter ... it doesn't even concern her!
I do as I please! I have my mother's fortune, you must know.
LOTH
Did you think on that account ...
HELEN
I am of age; father will have to give me my share.
LOTH
You are not, then, on good terms with everyone here?--Where has your
father gone to?
HELEN
Gone? You have?... Oh, you haven't seen my father yet?
LOTH
No; Hoffmann told me....
HELEN
Surely, you saw him once.
LOTH
Not that I know of. Where, dearest?
HELEN
I.... [_She bursts into tears._] No, I can't. I can't tell you ... it's
too, too fearful!
LOTH
So fearful? But, Helen, is anything wrong with your father?
HELEN
Oh, don't ask me! Not now, at least! Some time...!
LOTH
I will not urge you to tell me anything, dear, that you don't voluntarily
speak of. And, look, as far as the money is concerned ... if the worst
came ... though I don't exactly earn superfluous cash with my
articles--still, in the end, we could both manage to exist on it.
HELEN
And I wouldn't be idle either, would I? But the other way is better. My
inheritance Is more than enough.--And there's your life work ... no,
you're not to give that up under any circumstances ... now less than ever
...! Now you're to have your real chance to pursue it!
LOTH
[_Kissing her tenderly._] Dearest, best ...
HELEN
Oh, do you truly care...? Truly? Truly?
LOTH
Truly.
HELEN
You must say truly a hundred times.
LOTH
Truly and truly and truthfully.
HELEN
Oh, now, you're not playing fair!
LOTH
I am, though. That truthfully is equal to a hundred trulys.
HELEN
Oh? Is that the custom in Berlin?
LOTH
No, but it is here in Witzdorf.
HELEN
Oh! But now, look at my little finger and don't laugh.
LOTH
Gladly.
HELEN
Did you ever love any one before your first betrothed? Oh, now you _are_
laughing!
LOTH
I will tell you in all seriousness, dearest; indeed, I think it is my
duty.... In the course of my life a considerable number of women....
HELEN
[_With a quick and violent start, pressing her hand over his mouth._] For
the love of.... Tell me that some day, later, when we are old, when the
years have passed, when I shall say to you: "now!" Do you hear! Not
before!
LOTH
Just as you will.
HELEN
Rather tell me something sweet now!... Listen: repeat after me:
LOTH
What?
HELEN
I have loved--
LOTH
I have loved--
HELEN
Always you only--
LOTH
Always you only--
HELEN
All the days of my life--
LOTH
All the days of my life--
HELEN
And will love you only as long as I live--
LOTH
And will love you only as long as I live--and that is true so surely as I
am an honest man.
HELEN
[_Joyfully._] I didn't add that!
LOTH
But I did.
[_They kiss each other._
HELEN
[_Hums very softly._] "Thou in my heart art lying ..."
LOTH
But now you must confess too.
HELEN
Anything you like.
LOTH
Confess now! Am I the first?
HELEN
No.
LOTH
Who?
HELEN
[_Laughing out in the fullness of her joy._] Willy Kahl!
LOTH
[_Laughing._] Who else?
HELEN
Oh, no, there's no one else really. You must believe me ... Truly there
wasn't. Why should I tell you a falsehood?
LOTH
So there _was_ someone else?
HELEN
[_Passionately._] Oh, please, please, please, don't ask me now.
[_She hides her face in her hands and weeps apparently without any
reason._
LOTH
But ... but Nellie! I'm not insistent; I don't want to ...
HELEN
Later ... I'll tell you later ... not now!
LOTH
As I said before, dearest.
HELEN
There was some one--I want you to know--whom I ... because ... because
among wicked people he seemed the least wicked. Oh, it is so different
now. [_Weeping against LOTH'S neck: stormily._] Ah, if I only didn't have
to leave you at all any more! Oh, if I could only go away with you right
here on the spot!
LOTH
I suppose you have a very unhappy time in the house here?
HELEN
Oh, dear!--It's just frightful--the things that happen here. It's a life
like--that ... like that of the beasts of the field--Oh, I would have
died without you. I shudder to think of it!
LOTH
I believe it would calm you, dearest, if you would tell me everything
quite openly.
HELEN
Yes, to be sure. But I don't think I can bear to. Not now, at least, not
yet. And I'm really afraid to.
LOTH
You were at boarding-school, weren't you?
HELEN
My mother decided that I be sent--on her death-bed.
LOTH
Was your sister there with you?
HELEN
No, she was always at home ... And so when, four years ago, I came back
from school, I found a father--who ... a step-mother--who ... a sister
... guess, can't you guess what I mean!
LOTH
I suppose your step-mother is quarrelsome? Perhaps jealous? unloving?
HELEN
My father...?
LOTH
Well, in all probability he dances to her music. Perhaps she tyrannises
over him?
HELEN
Oh, if it were nothing else?... No! It is too frightful!--You can't
possibly guess that _that_ ... my father ... that it was _my_ father whom
you ...
LOTH
Don't weep, Nellie!... Look, you almost make me feel as though I ought to
insist that you tell ...
HELEN
No, no, it isn't possible. I haven't the strength!--not yet!
LOTH
But you're wearing yourself out this way!
HELEN
But I'm so ashamed, so boundlessly ashamed! Why, you will drive me from
you in horror...! It's beyond anything...! It's loathsome!
LOTH
Nellie, dear, you don't know me if you can think such things of me!
Repulse you! Drive you from me! Do I seem such a brute to you?
HELEN
My brother-in-law said that you would quite calmly ... But no, no, you
wouldn't? Would you?--You wouldn't just ruthlessly walk over me? Oh! you
won't! You mustn't! I don't know what _would_ become of me!
LOTH
But, dear, it's senseless to talk so. There's no earthly reason!
HELEN
But if there were a reason, it might happen!
LOTH
No! Not at all!
HELEN
But if you could think of a reason?
LOTH
There are reasons, to be sure; but they're not in question.
HELEN
And what kind of reasons?
LOTH
I would have to be ruthless only toward some one who would make me betray
my own most ideal self.
HELEN
And surely, I wouldn't want to do that! And yet I can't rid myself of the
feeling--
LOTH
What feeling, dearest?
HELEN
Perhaps it's just because I'm nothing but a silly girl. There's so little
to me--Why, I don't even know what it is--to have principles! Isn't that
frightful? But I just simply love you so! And you're so good, and so
great, and so very wise! I'm so afraid that you might, sometime,
discover--when I say something foolish, or do something--that it's all a
mistake, that I'm much too silly for you ... I'm really as worthless and
as silly as I can be!
LOTH
What shall I say to all that? You're everything to me, just everything in
the whole world. I can't say more!
HELEN
And I'm very strong and healthy, too ...
LOTH
Tell me, are your parents in good health?
HELEN
Indeed they are. That is, mother died in childbirth. But father is still
well; in fact he must have a very strong constitution. But ...
LOTH
Well, you see. Everything is ...
HELEN
But if my parents were not strong--;
LOTH
[_Kissing HELEN._] But then, they are, dear.
HELEN
But suppose they were not--?
_MRS. KRAUSE pushes open a window in the house and calls out into the
yard._
MRS. KRAUSE
Hey! Girls! Gi--rls!
LIESE
[_From within the cow-shed._] Yes, Missis?
MRS. KRAUSE
Run to Mueller's! It's startin'!
LIESE
What! To the midwife, ye mean?
MRS. KRAUSE
Are ye standin' on your ear?
[_She slams the window._
_LIESE runs out of the cow-shed with a little shawl over her head and
then out of the yard._
MRS. SPILLER
[_Calls._] Miss Helen! Oh, Miss Helen!
HELEN
What do you suppose is--?
MRS. SPILLER
[_Approaching the arbour._] Miss Helen!
HELEN
Oh, I know. It's my sister who--You must go, 'round that way!
[_LOTH withdraws rapidly by the right foreground. HELEN steps out
from the arbour._
MRS. SPILLER
Oh, Miss, there you are at last!
HELEN
What is it?
MRS. SPILLER
Ah--m--your sister.
[_She whispers into HELEN'S ear._
HELEN
My brother-in-law ordered that the doctor be sent for at any sign of--
MRS. SPILLER
Oh--m--dear Miss Helen--m--she doesn't really want a doctor. These
doctors--m--oh, these doctors--m--with God's help ...
_MIELE comes from the house._
HELEN
Miele, go at once for Dr. Schimmelpfennig!
MRS. KRAUSE
[_From the window, arrogantly._] Miele! You come up here!
HELEN
[_In a tone of command._] Miele, you go for the doctor! [_MIELE withdraws
into the house._] Well, then I must go myself ...
[_She goes into the house and comes back out at once carrying her
straw hat._
MRS. SPILLER
It'll go wrong--m--If you call the doctor, dear Miss Helen,--m--it will
surely go wrong!
_HELEN passes her by. MRS. SPILLER withdraws into the house, shaking
her head. As HELEN turns at the driveway KAHL is standing at the
boundary fence._
KAHL
[_Calls out to HELEN._] What's the matter over at your place?
_HELEN does not stop, nor does she deign to notice or answer KAHL._
KAHL
[_Laughing._] I guess ye got a pig killin'?
CURTAIN
THE FIFTH ACT
_The same room, as in the first act. Time: toward two o'clock in the
morning. The room is in complete darkness. Through the open middle
door light penetrates into it from the illuminated hall. The light
also falls clearly upon the wooden stairway that leads to the upper
floor. The conversation in this act--with very few exceptions--is
carried on in a muffled tone._
_EDWARD enters through the middle door, carrying a light. He lights
the hanging lamp (it is a gas lamp) over the corner table. While he
is thus employed, LOTH _also enters by the middle door._
EDWARD
O Lord! Such goin's on! It'd take a monster to be able to close a eye
here!
LOTH
I didn't even try to sleep. I have been writing.
EDWARD
You don't say! [_He succeeds in lighting the lamp._] There! Well, sure, I
guess it's hard enough, too ... Maybe you'd like to have paper and ink,
sir?
LOTH
Perhaps that would be ... If you would be so good, then, Mr. Edward?
EDWARD
[_Placing pen and ink on the table._] I'm always thinkin' that any honest
fellow has got to get all the work there's in every bone for every dirty
penny. You can't even get your rest o' nights. [_More and more
confidentially._] But this crew here! They don't do one thing--a lazy,
worthless crew, a--... I suppose, sir, that you've got to be at it early
and late too, like all honest folks, for your bit o' bread.
LOTH
I wish I didn't have to.
EDWARD
Me too, you betcher.
LOTH
I suppose Miss Helen is with her sister?
EDWARD
Yes, sir, an', honestly, she's a good girl, she is; hasn't budged since
it started.
LOTH
[_Looking at his watch._] The pains began at eleven o'clock in the
morning. So they've already lasted fifteen hours--fifteen long hours--!
EDWARD
Lord, yes!--And that's what they calls the weaker sex. But she's just
barely gaspin'.
LOTH
And is Mr. Hoffmann upstairs, too?
EDWARD
Yes, an' I can tell you, he's goin' on like a woman.
LOTH
Well, I suppose it isn't very easy to have to watch that.
EDWARD
You're right there, indeed. Dr. Schimmelpfennig came just now. There's a
man for you: rough as rough can be--but sugar ain't nothing to his real
feelings. But just tell me what's become of little, old Berlin in all
this ...
[_He interrupts himself with a_ Gee-rusa-lem! _as HOFFMANN and the
DOCTOR are seen coming down the stairs._
_HOFFMANN and DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG enter._
HOFFMANN
Surely--you will stay with us from now on.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Yes, I suppose I will stay now.
HOFFMANN
That's a very, very great consolation to me.--Will you have a glass of
wine? Surely you'll drink a glass of wine, Doctor?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
If you want to do something for me, have a cup of coffee prepared.
HOFFMANN
With pleasure. Edward! Coffee for the doctor! [_EDWARD withdraws._] Are
you...? Are you satisfied with the way things are going?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
So long as your wife's strength keeps up there is, at all events, no
direct danger. But why didn't you call in the young midwife? I remember
having recommended her to you.
HOFFMANN
My mother-in-law...! What is one to do? And, to be frank with you, my
wife has no confidence in the young woman either.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
But your ladies place confidence in this old fossil? Well, I hope they'll
... And I suppose you would like to go back upstairs?
HOFFMANN
Yes, honestly, I can't get much rest down here.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
It would be better undoubtedly if you were to go somewhere--out of the
house.
HOFFMANN
With the best will in the world, I--. [_LOTH arises from the sofa in the
dim foreground and approaches the two._] Hallo, Loth, there you are too!
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
[_Surprised in the extreme._] Well, I'll be--!
LOTH
I heard that you were here. I would have looked you up to-morrow without
fail.
[_They shake hands cordially. HOFFMANN takes the opportunity to mash
down a glass of brandy at the side-board and then to creep back
upstairs on tiptoe._
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
So you've evidently forgotten--ha, ha, ha--that ridiculous old affair?
[_He lays aside his hat and cane._
LOTH
Long ago, Schimmel!
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Well, so have I, as you can well imagine. [_They shake hands once more._]
I've had so few pleasant surprises in this hole, that this one seems
positively queer to me. And it is strange that we should meet just here.
It _is_.
LOTH
And you faded clear out of sight. Otherwise I'd have routed you out long
ago.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Oh, I just dived below the surface like a seal. Made deep-sea
investigations. In about a year and a half I hope to emerge once more. A
man must be financially independent--do you know that?--In order to
achieve anything useful.
LOTH
So you, too, are making money here?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Naturally and as much as possible. What else is there to do here?
LOTH
You might have let some one hear from you!
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
I beg your pardon. But if I had been heard from, I would have heard from
you fellows--and I absolutely didn't want to hear. Nothingnothing. That
would simply have kept me from exploiting my diggings here.
_The two men walk slowly up and down the room._
LOTH
I see. But then you mustn't be surprised to hear that ... well, they all,
without an exception, really gave you up as hopeless.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
That's like them--the scamps! They'll be made to take notice.
LOTH
Schimmel--otherwise the "rough husk"!
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
I wish you had had to live here among the farmers for six years.
Hellhounds--every one of them.
LOTH
I can imagine that.--But how in the world did you get to Witzdorf?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
The way such things do happen! You remember I had to skin out from Jena
that time.
LOTH
Was that before my crash?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Yes, a short time after we'd given up living together. So I took up
medicine at Zuerich, first simply so as to have something against a time
of need. But then the thing began to interest me, and now I'm a doctor,
heart and soul.
LOTH
And about this place. How did you get here?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Very simply. When I got through I said to myself: first of all you've got
to have a sufficient pile. I thought of America, South and North America,
of Africa, Australia and the isles of the sea ... In the end it occurred
to me, however, that my escapade had become outlawed; and so I made up my
mind to creep back into the old trap.
LOTH
And how about your Swiss examinations?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Why, I simply had to go through the whole rigmarole once more.
LOTH
Man! You passed the state medical examination twice over?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Yes, luckily I then discovered this fat pasture here.
LOTH
Your toughness is certainly enviable.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
All very well, unless one collapses suddenly.--Well, it wouldn't matter
so greatly after all.
LOTH
Have you a very large practice?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Oh, yes. Occasionally I don't get to bed till five o'clock in the
morning. And at seven my consultation hour begins again.
_EDWARD comes in, bringing coffee._
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
[_Sitting down at the table, to EDWARD._] Thank you, Edward.--[_To
LOTH._]--The way I swill coffee is--uncanny.
LOTH
You'd better give that up.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
What is one to do? [_He takes small swallows._] As I told you awhile
ago--another year; then--all this stops. At least, I hope so.
LOTH
Don't you intend to practice after that at all?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Don't think so. No--no more. [_He pushes back the tray with the dishes
and wipes his mouth._] By the way, let's see your hand. [_LOTH holds up
both his hands for inspection._] I see. You've taken no wife to your
bosom yet. Haven't found one, I suppose. I remember you always wanted
primaeval vigour in the woman of your choice on account of the soundness
of the strain. And you're quite right, too. If one takes a risk, it ought
to be a good one. Or maybe you've become less stringent in that respect.
LOTH
Not a bit! You may take your oath.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
I wish the farmers around here had such notions. But they're in a
wretched condition--degeneration along the whole line ... [_He has half
taken his cigar case from his inner pocket but lets it slip back and
arises as a sound penetrates through the door which is only ajar._] Wait
a moment! [_He goes on tiptoe to the door leading to the hall and
listens. A door is heard to open and close, and for several moments the
moans of the woman in labour are audible. The DOCTOR, turning to LOTH,
says softly._] Excuse me!
[_And goes out._
_For several seconds, while the slamming of doors is heard and the
sound of people running up and down the stairs, LOTH paces the room.
Then he sits down in the arm-chair in the foreground, right. HELEN
slips in and throws her arms about LOTH, who has not observed her
coming from, behind._
LOTH
[_Looking around and embracing her in turn._] Nellie! [_He drams her down
upon his knee in spite of her gentle resistance. HELEN weeps under his
kisses._] Don't cry, Nellie! Why are you crying so?
HELEN
Why? Oh, if I knew!... I keep thinking that I won't find you here. Just
now I had such a fright ...
LOTH
But why?
HELEN
Because I heard you go out of your room--Oh, and my sister--we poor, poor
women!--oh, she's suffering too much!
LOTH
The pain is soon forgotten and there is no danger of death.
HELEN
Oh, but she is praying so to die. She wails and wails: Do let me die!...
The doctor!
[_She jumps up and slips into the conservatory._
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
[_On entering._] I do really wish now that that little woman upstairs
would hurry a bit! [_He sits down beside the table, takes out his cigar
case again, extracts a cigar from it and lays the latter down on the
table._] You'll come over to my house afterward, won't you? I have a
necessary evil with two horses standing out there in which we can drive
straight over. [_He taps his cigar against the edge of the table._] Oh,
the holy state of matrimony! O Lord! [_Striking a match._] So you're
still pure, free, pious and merry?
LOTH
You might better have waited a few more days with that question.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
[_His cigar is lit now._] Oho! I see!--[_laughing_]--so you've caught on
to my tricks at last!
LOTH
Are you still so frightfully pessimistic in regard to women?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
_Fright_fully! [_Watching the drifting smoke of his cigar._] In other
years I was a pessimist, so to speak, by presentiment....
LOTH
Have you had very special experiences in the meantime?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
That's just it. My shingle reads: Specialist for Diseases of Women.--The
practice of medicine, I assure you, makes a man terribly wise ...
terribly ... sane ...; it's a specific against all kinds of delusions.
LOTH
[_Laughing._] Well, then we can fall back into our old tone at once. I
want you to know ... I haven't caught on to your tricks at all. Less than
ever now ... But I am to understand, I suppose, that you've exchanged
your old hobby?
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
Hobby?
LOTH
The question of woman was in those days in a certain way your pet
subject.
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
I see! And why should I have exchanged it?
LOTH
If you think even worse of women than ...
DR. SCHIMMELPFENNIG
[_Somewhat aroused. He gets up and walks to and fro while he is
speaking._] I don't think evil of women.--Not a bit!--I think evil only
of marrying ... of marriage ... of marriage and--at most, of men ... The
woman question, you think, has ceased to interest me? What do you suppose
I've worked here for, during six years, like a cart horse? Surely in
order to devote at last all the power that is in me to the solution of
that question. Didn't you know that from the beginning?
LOTH