its foot_. INA _leaning at the window_. DR. VON BRAUSEPULVER
_discoursing_.
DR. VON BRAUSEPULVER--How old are you exactly?
WENDLA--Fourteen and a half.
DR. VON BRAUSEPULVER--I have been prescribing Blaud’s pills for fifteen
years, and in a great many cases have observed the most inspiring
improvement. I prefer them to cod-liver oil or tonics with iron. Begin
with three to four pills per day, and increase the quantity as fast
as you can assimilate it. I had prescribed for the Baroness Elfriede
von Witzleben an increase of one pill every third day. The Baroness
misunderstood me and increased the dose three pills each day. In less
than three weeks the Baroness was able to go to Pyrmont with her lady
mother to complete the cure. Tiring walks and extra meals we can
dispense with. Instead, promise me, my dear, that you will try to
move about all the more energetically, and not be ashamed to ask for
nourishment as soon as your appetite reappears. Then these oppressed
feelings round the heart will soon pass off--and the headache, the
chills, the dizziness--and our terrible bilious attacks. Baroness
Elfriede von Witzleben within a week of beginning the cure was enjoying
a whole broiled chicken with baked new potatoes for breakfast.
MRS. BERGMANN--May I offer you a glass of wine, Doctor?
DR. VON BRAUSEPULVER--Thank you, dear Mrs. Bergmann, my carriage is
waiting. Don’t take it so much to heart. In a few weeks our dear little
patient will be as fresh and lively again as a gazelle,--be sure of
it!--Good day, Mrs. Bergmann. Good day, my dear. Good day, ladies. Good
day. [_He goes, accompanied by_ MRS. BERGMANN.]
INA--[_At the window._] Well, your plane-tree is turning already--quite
gay again. Can you see it from your bed?--A brief display, hardly worth
being glad about, as one watches it come and go.--I must be going soon
now, too. August will be waiting for me at the post office, and I must
see the dressmaker first. Mucki is getting his first little trousers,
and Karl is to have some new leggings for the winter.
WENDLA--Often I feel so happy, Ina!--all gladness and sunshine. I
wouldn’t have dreamed that anyone could feel so blissful round the
heart. I want to go out and walk across the meadows in the evening glow
and hunt for primroses along the river, and sit down at the bank and
dream.... And then comes the =toothache=, and I think I must be going
to die first thing in the morning: I get hot and cold, everything goes
black before my eyes, and then the uncanny thing flutters in me.--Every
time I wake up I see mother crying. Oh, that hurts me so--I can’t tell
you, Ina!
INA--Hadn’t I better lift your pillow higher?
MRS. BERGMANN--[_Coming back._] He thinks the nausea will get better
too; and then you can just quietly get up again.... It’s my belief too
that it’ll be better if you get up again soon, Wendla.
INA--By the next time I drop in, perhaps you’ll be dancing round
the house again.--Good-bye, mother. I’ve just got to get to the
dressmaker’s. God keep you, Wendla dear. [_Kisses her._] Get better
very, very soon.
WENDLA--Good-bye, Ina.--Bring me some primroses when you come again.
Good-bye. Kiss your youngster for me.... [INA _goes_.]--What else did
he say, mother, when he was out there?
MRS. BERGMANN--He didn’t say anything. He said the Baroness von
Witzleben was also subject to fainting-spells. It was almost always
that way with chlorosis.
WENDLA--Did he say, mother, that I had chlorosis?
MRS. BERGMANN--You’re to drink milk and eat meat and vegetables when
your appetite has come back.
WENDLA--Oh, mother, mother, I don’t believe I have chlorosis!...
MRS. BERGMANN--You have chlorosis, child. Lie still, Wendla, lie still.
You have chlorosis.
WENDLA--No, mother, no! I know I haven’t! I feel it! I haven’t got
chlorosis--I’ve got the dropsy....
MRS. BERGMANN--You have chlorosis. Yes, he did say you had chlorosis.
Quiet down, girlie. It will get better.
WENDLA--It won’t get better. I have the dropsy. I must die,
mother.--Oh, mother, I must die!
MRS. BERGMANN--You must not die, child! You must not die!... Merciful
Heaven, you must not die!
WENDLA--But why do you cry, then, so miserably?
MRS. BERGMANN--You must not die--child! You haven’t got dropsy. You
have a =baby=, girl! You have a baby!--Oh, why, why did you do that to
me?
WENDLA--I didn’t do anything----
MRS. BERGMANN--Oh, don’t deny it now, Wendla!--I know, I know. See, I
couldn’t have said a word to you,--Wendla, my Wendla!...
WENDLA--But that is quite impossible, mother! I’m not married!
MRS. BERGMANN--Great God, that’s just it--that you’re not married! That
is just the frightful thing about it!--Wendla, Wendla, Wendla, what did
you do!
WENDLA--Why, really, I don’t remember any more! We were lying in the
hay.... I haven’t loved a soul in the world but you--only you, mother.
MRS. BERGMANN--My darling----
WENDLA--Oh, mother, why didn’t you tell me everything?
MRS. BERGMANN--Child, child, let’s not make each other’s hearts still
heavier. Control yourself! Don’t despair, my child!--What, tell that to
a fourteen-year-old girl? Why, I should sooner have expected the sun to
go out! I haven’t done anything different with you than my dear good
mother did with me.--Oh, let us trust in the good God, Wendla; let us
hope for pity, and bear our lot! See, there’s still time: nothing has
happened =yet=, child; and if we just don’t get cowardly now, the good
God won’t forsake us either.--Be brave, Wendla, be =brave=!--One may
be sitting at the window so with her hands in her lap, because so far
everything has turned out good,--and then something bursts in on her
and makes her heart feel like breaking on the spot.... Wha-what are you
trembling for?
WENDLA--Somebody knocked.
MRS. BERGMANN--I didn’t hear anything, dear heart. [_Goes to the door
and opens it._]
WENDLA--Oh, I heard it very clearly.--Who is outside?
MRS. BERGMANN--No one.--Schmidt’s mother from Garden Street.--You come
just right, Mother Schmidtin.
CURTAIN