the numbers! My gracious, but you're careless people! One ought to think
of such things! But that does no good now. Fielitz, do you hear me! One
ought to take some thought.--Now he's beginning to howl too! Do you
understand me? The place for ready money is a bank! And anyhow--the whole
business! One doesn't leave one's property alone like that! One shouldn't
leave it quite unprotected, especially with such a crowd in the
neighbourhood as we have here!
FIELITZ
I ... aw ... who'd ha' thought o' such a thing, your honour?
WEHRHAHN
Why don't you lay that clock down?
FIELITZ
I'm a peaceable man, your honour. I--I--I--I--Oh, Lordy, Lordy! I can't
tell you nothin', how that there thing happened.--I'm on good terms with
people; I don't quarrel with nobody ... I has made mistakes in my life.
That happens when a man ain't got no good companions. But that people
should go an' treat me this way! No, I ain't never deserved that.
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Weeping._] Fielitz, what has I always been tellin' you? Who's right
now, eh? Tell me that: who's right now? You didn't make no enemies on
_our_ account. Them's very different stories--them is. An' I guess Mr.
von Wehrhahn knows somethin' about that!
FIELITZ
Aw, mother, keep still. That there, that was my dooty.
[_EDE, half seriously, half in jest, makes a threatening gesture
behind FIELITZ. WEHRHAHN observes this._
WEHRHAHN
Look here, you there! What's that you did? You stood behind Fielitz and
shook your fist over his head.
EDE
Maybe I'm weak in the chest, but I don't rightly know.
WEHRHAHN
Listen: I'll tell you something. The place for insane people is the
asylum. But if you behave with any more impudence, you'll first be taken
to gaol!--I didn't understand you quite rightly, Mrs. Fielitz. You
insinuated something just now. Have you any suspicions in that direction?
I don't care to express myself more clearly. But do you suspect a--how
shall I express it--an act of, so to speak, political reprisal? In that
case you must be absolutely open. We shall then certainly get to the
bottom of it.
MRS. FIELITZ
No, no, no! I ain't got no suspicion. I'd rather go an' beg on the public
roads. I don't want to accuse no human being. I don't know. I can't make
nothin' of it at all. That's what I says again an' again. I don't know
nothin'.--Everythin' was locked up. We went away. The kitchen fire was
out; the top o' the oven was cold. Well, how did it happen? I can't
understand it, nohow. I don't know. But you see, that a feller like that
there feller c'n sit here an' make insinerations--that does hurt a body
right to the soul!
WEHRHAHN
Don't permit that to make any impression on you! Where would any of us
be, if we let such things affect us? Any one who goes to church nowadays
has the whole world hooting him. You just stick to me. [_He rummages
among the papers on his table._] By the way, I succeeded in saving
something here--a picture of your late husband. At least, I believe that
that's what it is. It was framed in deer's feet. [_He finds the picture
and hands it to MRS. FIELITZ._] Here!
_MRS. FIELITZ takes the picture, grasps WEHRHAHN'S hand with a swift
motion and kisses it, weeping._
EDE
[_Audibly._] Has anybody maybe got a bit o' sponge in his pocket, 'cause,
you see, stockin's don't absorb so much water.
WEHRHAHN
Make a note of that fellow, Glasenapp! Out with him! At once! You are to
withdraw!
_EDE withdraws with absurd gestures of his arms and legs. Suppressed
laughter._
WEHRHAHN
I'm really very much surprised at you, Langheinrich. That fellow has a
regular felon's face. One of those knife ruffians; a regular socialist.
He's been in gaol several times on account of street brawls. And that's
the kind of a man that you take into your shop and home.
LANGHEINRICH
All that don't concern me, your honour. I don't mix in politics.
WEHRHAHN
Oh, is that so? We can afford to wait and see.
LANGHEINRICH
If a feller goes an' does his work all right ...
WEHRHAHN
Nonsense! Mere twaddle! Let any one tell me with whom he associates and I
will tell him who he is.
_The murmuring and chattering of a crowd is heard. Constable SCHULZE
enters in full uniform._
WEHRHAHN
Where have you been all day?
SCHULZE
[_Utterly disconcerted for some moments. Then:_] We nabbed the boy, your
honour.
WEHRHAHN
Is that so? Who did it?
SCHULZE
Me and Tschache.
WEHRHAHN
Where?
SCHULZE
Right near here; by the church.
GLASENAPP
He always sits there and listens to the bells.
WEHRHAHN
Why didn't you tell us that before? Did he try to escape? Did he run from
you?
SCHULZE
He sat in the ditch an' didn't notice us. Tschache could ride close up to
him. An' then we got him by the scruff an' had him tight.
[_He steps back and grasps GUSTAV, whom_ TSCHACHE is leading in.
Members of the crowd press forward._
WEHRHAHN
H-m! At all events he is here. I'm rather sorry, I must say. He's the son
of a former Prussian constable ... Has any one informed old Rauchhaupt?
Somebody had better go for him.
MRS. SCHULZE
I'm takin' care of a sick person, your honour. Maybe I might be able to
get off now?
WEHRHAHN
Prepare the record, Glasenapp. No, Mrs. Schulze, you'll have to remain
here for the present. The matter will be finished soon enough.--So let us
prepare the record ...
[_He leans back in his chair and stares at the ceiling as if
collecting his thoughts for the purpose of dictating._
LANGHEINRICH
[_Softly to DR. BOXER._] Look at Mrs. Fielitz, will you, Doctor? Eh?
Ain't she grown yellow as a lemon peel?--If only that thing don't go
crooked, I tell you. [_He shows to DR. BOXER, who wards him off with a
gesture, something secretly in his hollow hand._] D'you want to see
somethin'? Eh? That's a fuse, that's what.
DR. BOXER
[_Softly._] Where did you get that from?
LANGHEINRICH
It ain't me that knows! That might come from anywhere in the world. It
might even come from Fielitz's cellar. Yessir. Maybe you don't believe
that? An' if I wanted to be nasty, Doctor ...
WEHRHAHN
Private conversation is not permitted here.
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Tugs at LANGHEINRICH'S sleeve and asks softly:_] Didn't you meet
Leontine to-day? Where was it?
LANGHEINRICH
[_With a triumphant glance at SCHULZE._] Over in Woltersdorf.
WEHRHAHN
Well, then, Glasenapp ... This is a horrible state of affairs--the
seventh conflagration this Autumn. And these people pretend to constitute
a civilised society! These firebrands pretend to be Christians. One need
merely step out on one's balcony to see the reflection of a fire
somewhere in the heavens. Now and then in clear nights I have counted the
reflections of as many as five. Contempt of judges and laws--that's what
it is! And that has taken such hold of these scoundrels that arson has
become a kind of diversion.--But they had better go slow. Just a little
patience, ladies and gentlemen! We know the tracks! We are on the right
scent! And the people in question will have a terrible awakening when,
quite suddenly, discovery and retribution come upon them. Any one who is
at all versed in the procedure of criminal justice knows that it goes
ahead slowly and surely and finally lays hold upon the guilty.--But as
Commissioner von Stoeckel quite rightly observed: The whole moral
downfall of our time, its actual return to savagery is a consequence of
the lack of religion! Educated people do not hesitate to undermine the
divine foundations upon which the structure of salvation rests.--But,
thank God, we're always to be found at our place! We are, so to speak,
always on our watch-tower!--And, I tell you, boy: There is a God! Do you
understand? There is a God in Heaven from whom no evil deed remains
hidden. Brotherly love! Christian spirit! What your kind needs is to have
your breeches drawn tight and your behind flogged! I'd make you sick of
playing with fires, you infamous little scamp!--Yes, Dr. Boxer, that is
exactly my conviction. You can shrug your shoulders all you please; that
doesn't disturb me in the slightest degree. You can even take up your pen
and raise the cry of cruelty and unfeelingness in the public prints!
Flogging! Christian discipline--that's what is needed, and no sentimental
slopping around! You understand!
GUSTAV
[_Has become more and more excited by the rising enthusiasm of the
speaker. At the end of WEHRHAHN'S oratorical effort he can restrain
himself no longer and breaks out in a loud, deceptively exact imitation
of an ass's bray._] I! a! a! a! I! a! a! a!
[_General embarrassment._
WEHRHAHN
[_Also embarrassed._] What does that mean?
GLASENAPP
I really don't know.
LANGHEINRICH
That's Gustav's art, your honour. He's famous for imitatin' animals'
voices.
WEHRHAHN
Is that so? And what animal was this supposed to be?
LANGHEINRICH
I guess a lion, all right.--
[_General laughter._
_WEHRHAHN shrugs his shoulders, laughs jeeringly and goes to his
seat. Silence. Then renewed laughter._
WEHRHAHN
I must request silence. This is no place for laughter! We are not
indulging in horse-play for your benefit. We are not trying to amuse any
one. The things we are discussing here are of a deadly seriousness. This
isn't a circus.
_RAUCHHAUPT enters and stares helplessly about him._
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Tugs at the coat of SCHULZE, who stands near her but with his back
turned. He faces her and she asks with a sorrowful expression._] Did you
see my girl to-day?
_SCHULZE nods and turns back again._
MRS. FIELITZ
[_As before._] You did see Leontine this morning?
_SCHULZE nods again and turns away._
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Repeating the action._] An' where did you meet her, Constable?
SCHULZE
[_Almost without moving his lips._] It was over beyond Woltersdorf.
RAUCHHAUPT
[_To LANGHEINRICH._] What's the matter here? What's all this here about?
WEHRHAHN
[_Observes RAUCHHAUPT._] You are a retired Prussian constable?
RAUCHHAUPT
[_Having failed to hear the question._] Say, Schulze, what's all this
for?
SCHULZE
His honour axed you somethin'. I can't go an' give you no information.
That's against orders. If you'd only ha' kept a better watch on that
there boy! I preached to you about that often enough.
RAUCHHAUPT
I don't know what you been preachin'! You ol' mush head! Go on preachin'!
SCHULZE
I begs to have it recorded that Rauchhaupt insulted me officially.
RAUCHHAUPT
What? 'Cause you're such a old idjit? That's the reason why I insults you
officially....
WEHRHAHN
Man alive! Do you know where you are? Or have you just dropped here out
of the clouds! Confound it all! Stand still! Obey orders!
RAUCHHAUPT
Here I is, your honour, an' I humbly announces ...
WEHRHAHN
That you are recalcitrant and disorderly! You are trying to get into
trouble! How long have you been retired?
RAUCHHAUPT
Eleven years.
WEHRHAHN
In addition your memory is probably injured. And anyhow--your whole
appearance! The devil! To think of a former constable looking like that
... I thought I knew all types!
RAUCHHAUPT
That's 'cause I am ... You'll kindly excuse ...
WEHRHAHN
Nothing is excused here! D'you understand? You actually smell! You
contaminate the air!
RAUCHHAUPT
'Tain't nothin' but the smell o' earth ...
WEHRHAHN
Horse dung!
RAUCHHAUPT
That must be from them pineapples.--
[_Laughter._
WEHRHAHN
In short: make haste to get out as soon as possible; otherwise, as I said
... Out! Out! You have probably seen now what is taking place here, and
now you have nothing further to do.--Here are the papers. Constable! Take
them right over to the court.
[_He hands the papers to SCHULZE. The officers clash their sabres,
grasp GUSTAV more firmly and prepare to lead him out. RAUCHHAUPT
glares about in helpless and growing terror._
DR. BOXER
I have the impression, your honour, that this boy is really a patient.
You will forgive me for mingling ...
LANGHEINRICH
The boy's a imbecile--clean daft!
MRS. SCHULZE
No, no, Doctor! Oh, no, Mr. Langheinrich, that there boy knows what he's
doin'. I had a hen onct an' she went an' hatched out eleven little chicks
and he goes an' takes bricks an' kills seven of 'em.
SCHULZE
That's right, aunt. An' how about that other business, about the little
purse what he stole?
MRS. SCHULZE
The little purse, yes, an' what was in it. An' the way he went about that
there thing ... nobody as is well could ha' done it more clever.
SCHULZE
An' then, aunt, the shawl ...
MRS. SCHULZE
Naw, an' then that there pistol. That boy's got all the good sense he
needs. I'm a old an' experienced woman.
RAUCHHAUPT
What's that you is? What? A ole witch with a low, lousy tongue in her
head! You go an' sweep in front o' your own door before you go an' accuse
other people. If somebody was to go an' watch your trade--takin' care o'
babies an' such like an' seein' to it that there ain't no shortage o'
angels in heaven--all kinds o' things might come out an' you wouldn't
know how to see or hear no more.--What's this? What's the matter with
Gustav? I gotta know that--what all this here is!
WEHRHAHN
Hold your tongue! [_To the constable._] Right about--march!
RAUCHHAUPT
Hold on, I says! Hold on, now! That's no way! Things like that ain't
mentioned in Scripter! I'm the father o' this here child! What's he done?
What do people think he's done? Gustav! What is they accusin' you of? I
went through the Schleswig-Holstein campaign; I was under fire in
'sixty-six; I was wounded in 'seventy. Here's my leg an' here is my
scars. I served the King of Prussia ...
WEHRHAHN
Those are old stories that you're telling us.
RAUCHHAUPT
... With God for King and Fatherland! But this thing here, no, sir; I
can't allow that. I wants to know what this thing here with Gustav is
about!
WEHRHAHN
Look here, my man, you had better come to your senses! I have told you
that once before. In consideration of your service to the state I have
overlooked several things as it is. Well now, I'll do one thing more.
Listen to me! This fine little product--this son of yours, has committed
arson. At least, he is under the very strongest suspicion. Now step out
of the way and don't interfere with the officers in the performance of
their duty. Go on, Schulze!
RAUCHHAUPT
Committed arson? That there boy? Over there? At Fielitz's? Gustav? This
here boy? This here little feller? O Lordy! But that makes me laugh! An'
that they ain't all laughin'--that's the funny part. Here, Schulze, don't
you go in for no foolishness! I wore them brass buttons myself
onct!--Howdy-do, Mrs. Fielitz! Well, Fielitz, how are you? Where are you
goin' to hang up that clock o' yours?
MRS. FIELITZ
Now he's jeerin' at us atop o' our troubles.
RAUCHHAUPT
Not a bit. Why should I be jeerin' at you anyhow? It's a misfortune, you
think! Lord, Lord, so it is! Cats die around in sheds an' the birds they
falls down dead to the earth. No, I ain't jeerin' at you! Anyhow: I ain't
scared o' many things. I've gone for some tough customers in my
time--fellers that none o' the other constables wanted to tackle! This
here finger is bitten through. Yessir! But before I tackles any one like
you--I'll go an' hang myself.
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Almost grey in the face, with trembling lips, yet with considerable
vehemence and energy._] What's that man goin' for me like that for? What
did I ever do to him, I'd like to know! Can I help it that things has
turned out this way? I ain't seen nothin'! I wasn't there! I ain't cast
no suspicions on no one! An' if they went an' arrested that boy o'
yours--I didn't know no more about that than you!
RAUCHHAUPT
Woman! Woman! Look at me!
MRS. FIELITZ
Rot! Stop botherin' me. Leave me in peace an' don't go showin' off that
way! I got enough trouble to go through. The doctor tells a person not to
get excited, 'cause you might go just like that! An' a man like you ...
We don't know where to lie down! We don't know where we're goin' to sleep
to-night! We're lyin' in the street, you might say, half dead an' all
broken up ...
RAUCHHAUPT
Woman! Woman! Can you look at me?
MRS. FIELITZ
Leave me alone an' go where you belongs. I don't let nobody treat me like
that! I c'n look at you all right! Why not? I c'n look at you three days
an' three nights an' see nothin' but a donkey before me! If this here
thing is put off on your boy now, whose fault is it mostly? How did you
go an' talk about the boy? You says, says you: he steals, he sets fire to
your straw shed--an' now you're surprised that things turns out this way!
You beat this here poor boy ... he used to come runnin' over to me with
so many blue spots on his body that there wasn't a place on him that
wasn't sore. An' now you acts all of a sudden like a crazy man!
_WEHRHAHN has motioned the officers who grasp GUSTAV more firmly and
lead him toward the door. RAUCHHAUPT observes this and jumps with
lightning-like rapidity in front of GUSTAV, placing his hands on the
latter's shoulders and holding him fast._
RAUCHHAUPT
Can't be done! I can't allow that, your honour. My Gustav ain't no
criminal! I lived along reel quiet all to myself an' now I got into this
here conspiracy. There's got to be proofs first of all! [_To
LANGHEINRICH._] Could it ha' been he, d'you think? [_LANGHEINRICH shrugs
his shoulders._] Them's all a crowd o' thieves around here--that's what
... Gustav, don't you cry! They can't, in God's name--they can't do
nothin' to you ...
WEHRHAHN
Hands off! Or ... Hands off!
RAUCHHAUPT
Your honour, I'll take my oath o' office, that's what I'll take, that my
boy here is innercent!
WEHRHAHN
_Tempi passati_. You're getting yourself into trouble. For the last time:
Hands off!
RAUCHHAUPT
Then I'd rather kill him right here on the spot, your honour!
WEHRHAHN
[_Steps between and separates RAUCHHAUPT from his son._] Move' on! You're
not to touch the boy! If you dare the constable will draw his sabre!
RAUCHHAUPT
[_White as chalk, half maddened with excitement, has loosened his hold on
GUSTAV and plants himself in front of the main door._] Don't do that to
me, your honour, for God's sake, for Christ's sake--don't! That's a point
o' honour with me--a point o' honour! Anythin' exceptin' that! I'll go
instead. I c'n furnish bail. I'll run an' get bail. I c'n get back here
right away! Eh? C'n I? Or can't that be done now?
WEHRHAHN
Stuff and nonsense. Move out of the way!
RAUCHHAUPT
I knows who it was that did it!
_WEHRHAHN thrusts RAUCHHAUPT aside and the two officers conduct
GUSTAV out. DR. BOXER and LANGHEINRICH support and restrain
RAUCHHAUPT at the same time. He falls into a state of dull collapse.
Silence ensues. Without saying a word WEHRHAHN returns to his table,
blows his nose, glances swiftly at RAUCHHAUPT and MRS. FIELITZ and
sits down._
WEHRHAHN
Let us have some light, Glasenapp.
_GLASENAPP lights a lamp on the table._
MRS. FIELITZ
No, no, I tell you; it's bad, bad! A man like that! He goes an' accuses
everybody in the whole place.
WEHRHAHN
You! Mrs. Schulze! You can go your ways!
_MRS. SCHULZE withdraws rapidly._
MRS. FIELITZ
I'd like to ax your honour ... we don't even know where we're goin' to
sleep to-night.
WEHRHAHN
Are you asleep now, Fielitz?
FIELITZ
[_Frightened from the contemplation of his clock._] Not me, your honour!
WEHRHAHN
I thought you were because your head drooped so.
FIELITZ
[_With childish bashfulness._] I was just lookin' at the hands.
WEHRHAHN
[_To MRS. FIELITZ._] You want to go?
MRS. FIELITZ
If it's maybe possible ... I can't hardly stand on them two legs o' mine
no more.
WEHRHAHN
I believe that. When did you get up this morning?
MRS. FIELITZ
-- -- --?
FIELITZ
We both got up around eight o'clock.
WEHRHAHN
Do you always get up so late?
MRS. FIELITZ
Sure not! That there man is confused to-day in his mind. We got up at
five. We always get up at five!
WEHRHAHN
Well, Mrs. Fielitz, you go on home now.--I should be mighty sorry in some
respects ... However, justice goes its way. Murder will out. Criminals
come to a fearful end! The eternal Judge doesn't forget. And--you [_To
RAUCHHAUPT._] might as well go home. Go home and wait to see how things
turn out. I'll let things go this time. Your paternal feeling robbed you
of your senses.
RAUCHHAUPT
[_Steps forward._] I should like 'umbly to report, your honour ...
WEHRHAHN
Go on! Go on! What else do you want? Let us have no more nonsense, my
good man.
RAUCHHAUPT
[_Goes close up to MRS. FIELITZ._] God is my witness! I'll show you up!
THE CURTAIN FALLS
THE FOURTH ACT
_The attic room over LANGHEINRICH'S smithy. To the left, two small,
curtained windows. At one of the windows an arm-chair on which MRS.
FIELITZ is sitting. She has aged perceptibly and grown thinner.--At
the second window stands a sewing-machine with a chair beside it. A
skirt at which some one has been working is thrown across the chair.
A bodice lies on the machine itself. A door in the rear wall leads to
a little sleeping-chamber immediately under the roof. To the left of
this door a brown tile-oven; to its right, a yellow wardrobe. In the
right wall there is likewise a door which opens upon the hall. Behind
this door a neatly made bed and a yellow chest of drawers. Above this
chest hangs a seven-day clock. The SHOEMAKER FIELITZ stands in his
stocking feet upon the chest of drawers and winds the clock._
_In the middle of the room an extension table. A hanging lamp above
it. Four yellow chairs surround the table, a fifth--of the same set
stands near the bed. LANGHEINRICH and EDE, _dressed in their
working-clothes, are busy at the table. LANGHEINRICH holds an iron
weather-vane which EDE is painting red._
_EDE and LANGHEINRICH break out in loud laugh._
FIELITZ
[_Who has been minding the clock while the others have been laughing._]
Somebody's been pokin' around here again.
LANGHEINRICH
You c'n bet on that. I s'ppose that's what's happened. You'd better watch
out more.
[_Renewed laughter._
FIELITZ
All I say is: let me catch some one at it! An' I won't care what happens
neither!
LANGHEINRICH
That's right! That's the way! Don't you care who it is, neither. I think
it was Leontine.
MRS. FIELITZ
The girl ain't been near that there clock!
LANGHEINRICH
Oh, oh!
FIELITZ
Somethin's goin' to happen some day. I don't take no jokes o' that kind.
EDE
You gotta save that to put it in the shop.
LANGHEINRICH
That's the truth! That's what I always been sayin'! That corner shop'll
soon be built now, an' then maybe he won't have no clock to hang up in
it. How could he go an' start a business then!
FIELITZ
Firebrands! Pack o' thieves! Laugh if you wants to! You can't never get
the better o' me!
LANGHEINRICH
Not a bit, can they! An' that wouldn't do. How many contracts has you
been makin'? I mean about furnishin' people with shoes. You got to have
somethin' to start with!
MRS. FIELITZ
Can't you leave the man in peace!
FIELITZ
You just go in my room; there you c'n see letters an' contracts lyin'
around--packages an' heaps o' them!
EDE
[_Looks into the adjoining room._] I don't see nothin'.
LANGHEINRICH
Tear up the floorin': you'll find the docyments hidden there. People has
got to have their business secrets!
FIELITZ
O' course they has! An' whippersnappers don't know much about that. Go
an' learn how to read an' write before you go an' mix in my business.
MRS. FIELITZ
Come, Fielitz, let them be! Don't lose your temper. You know as
Langheinrich has got to have his joke! That's the way the man is made.
LANGHEINRICH
I do feel pretty jolly to-day, an' that's a fac'! I got a piece o' work
done. An' if I don't go an' fall down from the steeple when I puts it
up--I'll go an' christen this here occasion. An' I won't use water.
MRS. FIELITZ
Are you goin' to put it up yourself?
LANGHEINRICH
You c'n take your oath on that! An' why not? Schmarowski, he designed it.
But I forged it an' I'll put it up.
_LEONTINE enters._
LEONTINE
You better let Schmarowski do that himself.
EDE
Schmarowski ain't afraid o' anything shaky.
LANGHEINRICH
No, that's as true as can be, I know. He ain't afraid o' God nor the
devil. That little man ... I tell you, Bismarck is just a coward
alongside o' him!
FIELITZ
I'd like to make a inquiry: who is it that built that there new house?
LANGHEINRICH
Well, who did?
FIELITZ
Me! An' not Schmarowski.
EDE
Well, that's certain! We all knows that, Mr. Fielitz.
FIELITZ
Right up from the foundation! Me an' nobody but me! That there is my
land, my bricks, my money! All the insurance money's been sunk into that.
Ax mother here if that ain't the fac'!
[_Laughter._
MRS. FIELITZ
Oh, Lord, Fielitz! Can't you let that be? Has you got to tell them old
stories all over again?
FIELITZ
That I has! I got to prove that, mother! I got to let them people know
who I is! Watch out, I tell you, when I makes my speech to-day!
MRS. FIELITZ
Schmarowski says there ain't goin' to be no speech makin'.
FIELITZ
You can't go an' tie up my tongue, an' Schmarowski can't do it neither!