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THERE ARE CRIMES AND CRIMES
A Comedy
By August Strindberg
Translated from the Swedish with an Introduction by Edwin Bjorkman
INTRODUCTION
Strindberg was fifty years old when he wrote "There Are Crimes and
Crimes." In the same year, 1899, he produced three of his finest
historical dramas: "The Saga of the Folkungs," "Gustavus Vasa," and
"Eric XIV." Just before, he had finished "Advent," which he described as
"A Mystery," and which was published together with "There Are Crimes
and Crimes" under the common title of "In a Higher Court." Back of these
dramas lay his strange confessional works, "Inferno" and "Legends,"
and the first two parts of his autobiographical dream-play, "Toward
Damascus"--all of which were finished between May, 1897, and some time
in the latter part of 1898. And back of these again lay that period of
mental crisis, when, at Paris, in 1895 and 1896, he strove to make gold
by the transmutation of baser metals, while at the same time his spirit
was travelling through all the seven hells in its search for the heaven
promised by the great mystics of the past.
"There Are Crimes and Crimes" may, in fact, be regarded as his first
definite step beyond that crisis, of which the preceding works were
at once the record and closing chord. When, in 1909, he issued "The
Author," being a long withheld fourth part of his first autobiographical
series, "The Bondwoman's Son," he prefixed to it an analytical summary
of the entire body of his work. Opposite the works from 1897-8 appears
in this summary the following passage: "The great crisis at the age
of fifty; revolutions in the life of the soul, desert wanderings,
Swedenborgian Heavens and Hells." But concerning "There Are Crimes and
Crimes" and the three historical dramas from the same year he writes
triumphantly: "Light after darkness; new productivity, with recovered
Faith, Hope and Love--and with full, rock-firm Certitude."
In its German version the play is named "Rausch," or "Intoxication,"
which indicates the part played by the champagne in the plunge of
Maurice from the pinnacles of success to the depths of misfortune.
Strindberg has more and more come to see that a moderation verging
closely on asceticism is wise for most men and essential to the man of
genius who wants to fulfil his divine mission. And he does not scorn
to press home even this comparatively humble lesson with the naive
directness and fiery zeal which form such conspicuous features of all
his work.
But in the title which bound it to "Advent" at their joint publication
we have a better clue to what the author himself undoubtedly regards
as the most important element of his work--its religious tendency. The
"higher court," in which are tried the crimes of Maurice, Adolphe, and
Henriette, is, of course, the highest one that man can imagine. And the
crimes of which they have all become guilty are those which, as Adolphe
remarks, "are not mentioned in the criminal code"--in a word, crimes
against the spirit, against the impalpable power that moves us, against
God. The play, seen in this light, pictures a deep-reaching spiritual
change, leading us step by step from the soul adrift on the waters of
life to the state where it is definitely oriented and impelled.
There are two distinct currents discernible in this dramatic revelation
of progress from spiritual chaos to spiritual order--for to order
the play must be said to lead, and progress is implied in its onward
movement, if there be anything at all in our growing modern conviction
that ANY vital faith is better than none at all. One of the currents
in question refers to the means rather than the end, to the road rather
than the goal. It brings us back to those uncanny soul-adventures by
which Strindberg himself won his way to the "full, rock-firm Certitude"
of which the play in its entirety is the first tangible expression. The
elements entering into this current are not only mystical, but occult.
They are derived in part from Swedenborg, and in part from that
picturesque French dreamer who signs himself "Sar Peladan"; but mostly
they have sprung out of Strindberg's own experiences in moments of
abnormal tension.
What happened, or seemed to happen, to himself at Paris in 1895,
and what he later described with such bewildering exactitude in his
"Inferno" and "Legends," all this is here presented in dramatic form,
but a little toned down, both to suit the needs of the stage and the
calmer mood of the author. Coincidence is law. It is the finger-point
of Providence, the signal to man that he must beware. Mystery is the
gospel: the secret knitting of man to man, of fact to fact, deep beneath
the surface of visible and audible existence. Few writers could take
us into such a realm of probable impossibilities and possible
improbabilities without losing all claim to serious consideration. If
Strindberg has thus ventured to our gain and no loss of his own, his
success can be explained only by the presence in the play of that
second, parallel current of thought and feeling.
This deeper current is as simple as the one nearer the surface is
fantastic. It is the manifestation of that "rock-firm Certitude" to
which I have already referred. And nothing will bring us nearer to it
than Strindberg's own confession of faith, given in his "Speeches to
the Swedish Nation" two years ago. In that pamphlet there is a chapter
headed "Religion," in which occurs this passage: "Since 1896 I have been
calling myself a Christian. I am not a Catholic, and have never been,
but during a stay of seven years in Catholic countries and among
Catholic relatives, I discovered that the difference between Catholic
and Protestant tenets is either none at all, or else wholly superficial,
and that the division which once occurred was merely political or else
concerned with theological problems not fundamentally germane to the
religion itself. A registered Protestant I am and will remain, but I can
hardly be called orthodox or evangelistic, but come nearest to being a
Swedenborgian. I use my Bible Christianity internally and privately
to tame my somewhat decivilized nature--decivilised by that veterinary
philosophy and animal science (Darwinism) in which, as student at the
university, I was reared. And I assure my fellow-beings that they have
no right to complain because, according to my ability, I practise the
Christian teachings. For only through religion, or the hope of something
better, and the recognition of the innermost meaning of life as that of
an ordeal, a school, or perhaps a penitentiary, will it be possible to
bear the burden of life with sufficient resignation."
Here, as elsewhere, it is made patent that Strindberg's religiosity
always, on closer analysis, reduces itself to morality. At bottom he
is first and last, and has always been, a moralist--a man passionately
craving to know what is RIGHT and to do it. During the middle,
naturalistic period of his creative career, this fundamental tendency
was in part obscured, and he engaged in the game of intellectual
curiosity known as "truth for truth's own sake." One of the chief marks
of his final and mystical period is his greater courage to "be himself"
in this respect--and this means necessarily a return, or an advance,
to a position which the late William James undoubtedly would have
acknowledged as "pragmatic." To combat the assertion of over-developed
individualism that we are ends in ourselves, that we have certain
inalienable personal "rights" to pleasure and happiness merely because
we happen to appear here in human shape, this is one of Strindberg's
most ardent aims in all his later works.
As to the higher and more inclusive object to which our lives must be
held subservient, he is not dogmatic. It may be another life. He calls
it God. And the code of service he finds in the tenets of all the
Christian churches, but principally in the Commandments. The plain
and primitive virtues, the faith that implies little more than square
dealing between man and man--these figure foremost in Strindberg's
ideals. In an age of supreme self-seeking like ours, such an outlook
would seem to have small chance of popularity, but that it embodies
just what the time most needs is, perhaps, made evident by the reception
which the public almost invariably grants "There Are Crimes and Crimes"
when it is staged.
With all its apparent disregard of what is commonly called realism, and
with its occasional, but quite unblushing, use of methods generally held
superseded--such as the casual introduction of characters at whatever
moment they happen to be needed on the stage--it has, from the start,
been among the most frequently played and most enthusiastically received
of Strindberg's later dramas. At Stockholm it was first taken up by
the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and was later seen on the tiny stage of the
Intimate Theatre, then devoted exclusively to Strindberg's works. It
was one of the earliest plays staged by Reinhardt while he was still
experimenting with his Little Theatre at Berlin, and it has also been
given in numerous German cities, as well as in Vienna.
Concerning my own version of the play I wish to add a word of
explanation. Strindberg has laid the scene in Paris. Not only the
scenery, but the people and the circumstances are French. Yet he has
made no attempt whatever to make the dialogue reflect French manners
of speaking or ways of thinking. As he has given it to us, the play is
French only in its most superficial aspect, in its setting--and this
setting he has chosen simply because he needed a certain machinery
offered him by the Catholic, but not by the Protestant, churches. The
rest of the play is purely human in its note and wholly universal in its
spirit. For this reason I have retained the French names and titles, but
have otherwise striven to bring everything as close as possible to our
own modes of expression. Should apparent incongruities result from this
manner of treatment, I think they will disappear if only the reader will
try to remember that the characters of the play move in an existence
cunningly woven by the author out of scraps of ephemeral reality in
order that he may show us the mirage of a more enduring one.
THERE ARE CRIMES AND CRIMES
A COMEDY
1899
CHARACTERS
MAURICE, a playwright
JEANNE, his mistress
MARION, their daughter, five years old
ADOLPHE, a painter
HENRIETTE, his mistress
EMILE, a workman, brother of Jeanne
MADAME CATHERINE
THE ABBE
A WATCHMAN
A HEAD WAITER
A COMMISSAIRE
TWO DETECTIVES
A WAITER
A GUARD
A SERVANT GIRL
ACT I, SCENE 1. THE CEMETERY
2. THE CREMERIE
ACT II, SCENE 1. THE AUBERGE DES ADRETS
2. THE BOIS DE BOULOGNE
ACT III, SCENE 1. THE CREMERIE
2. THE AUBERGE DES ADRETS
ACT IV, SCENE 1. THE LUXEMBOURG GARDENS
2. THE CREMERIE
(All the scenes are laid in Paris)
THERE ARE CRIMES AND CRIMES
ACT I
FIRST SCENE
(The upper avenue of cypresses in the Montparnasse Cemetery at Paris.
The background shows mortuary chapels, stone crosses on which are
inscribed "O Crux! Ave Spes Unica!" and the ruins of a wind-mill covered
with ivy.)
(A well-dressed woman in widow's weeds is kneeling and muttering prayers
in front of a grave decorated with flowers.)
(JEANNE is walking back and forth as if expecting somebody.)
(MARION is playing with some withered flowers picked from a rubbish heap
on the ground.)
(The ABBE is reading his breviary while walking along the further end of
the avenue.)
WATCHMAN. [Enters and goes up to JEANNE] Look here, this is no
playground.
JEANNE. [Submissively] I am only waiting for somebody who'll soon be
here--
WATCHMAN. All right, but you're not allowed to pick any flowers.
JEANNE. [To MARION] Drop the flowers, dear.
ABBE. [Comes forward and is saluted by the WATCHMAN] Can't the child
play with the flowers that have been thrown away?
WATCHMAN. The regulations don't permit anybody to touch even the flowers
that have been thrown away, because it's believed they may spread
infection--which I don't know if it's true.
ABBE. [To MARION] In that case we have to obey, of course. What's your
name, my little girl?
MARION. My name is Marion.
ABBE. And who is your father?
(MARION begins to bite one of her fingers and does not answer.)
ABBE. Pardon my question, madame. I had no intention--I was just talking
to keep the little one quiet.
(The WATCHMAN has gone out.)
JEANNE. I understood it, Reverend Father, and I wish you would say
something to quiet me also. I feel very much disturbed after having
waited here two hours.
ABBE. Two hours--for him! How these human beings torture each other! O
Crux! Ave spes unica!
JEANNE. What do they mean, those words you read all around here?
ABBE. They mean: O cross, our only hope!
JEANNE. Is it the only one?
ABBE. The only certain one.
JEANNE. I shall soon believe that you are right, Father.
ABBE. May I ask why?
JEANNE. You have already guessed it. When he lets the woman and the
child wait two hours in a cemetery, then the end is not far off.
ABBE. And when he has left you, what then?
JEANNE. Then we have to go into the river.
ABBE. Oh, no, no!
JEANNE. Yes, yes!
MARION. Mamma, I want to go home, for I am hungry.
JEANNE. Just a little longer, dear, and we'll go home.
ABBE. Woe unto those who call evil good and good evil.
JEANNE. What is that woman doing at the grave over there?
ABBE. She seems to be talking to the dead.
JEANNE. But you cannot do that?
ABBE. She seems to know how.
JEANNE. This would mean that the end of life is not the end of our
misery?
ABBE. And you don't know it?
JEANNE. Where can I find out?
ABBE. Hm! The next time you feel as if you wanted to learn about this
well-known matter, you can look me up in Our Lady's Chapel at the Church
of St. Germain--Here comes the one you are waiting for, I guess.
JEANNE. [Embarrassed] No, he is not the one, but I know him.
ABBE. [To MARION] Good-bye, little Marion! May God take care of you!
[Kisses the child and goes out] At St. Germain des Pres.
EMILE. [Enters] Good morning, sister. What are you doing here?
JEANNE. I am waiting for Maurice.
EMILE. Then I guess you'll have a lot of waiting to do, for I saw him on
the boulevard an hour ago, taking breakfast with some friends. [Kissing
the child] Good morning, Marion.
JEANNE. Ladies also?
EMILE. Of course. But that doesn't mean anything. He writes plays, and
his latest one has its first performance tonight. I suppose he had with
him some of the actresses.
JEANNE. Did he recognise you?
EMILE. No, he doesn't know who I am, and it is just as well. I know my
place as a workman, and I don't care for any condescension from those
that are above me.
JEANNE. But if he leaves us without anything to live on?
EMILE. Well, you see, when it gets that far, then I suppose I shall
have to introduce myself. But you don't expect anything of the kind, do
you--seeing that he is fond of you and very much attached to the child?
JEANNE. I don't know, but I have a feeling that something dreadful is in
store for me.
EMILE. Has he promised to marry you?
JEANNE. No, not promised exactly, but he has held out hopes.
EMILE. Hopes, yes! Do you remember my words at the start: don't hope for
anything, for those above us don't marry downward.
JEANNE. But such things have happened.
EMILE. Yes, they have happened. But, would you feel at home in his
world? I can't believe it, for you wouldn't even understand what they
were talking of. Now and then I take my meals where he is eating--out in
the kitchen is my place, of course--and I don't make out a word of what
they say.
JEANNE. So you take your meals at that place?
EMILE. Yes, in the kitchen.
JEANNE. And think of it, he has never asked me to come with him.
EMILE. Well, that's rather to his credit, and it shows he has some
respect for the mother of his child. The women over there are a queer
lot.
JEANNE. Is that so?
EMILE. But Maurice never pays any attention to the women. There is
something SQUARE about that fellow.
JEANNE. That's what I feel about him, too, but as soon as there is a
woman in it, a man isn't himself any longer.
EMILE. [Smiling] You don't tell me! But listen: are you hard up for
money?
JEANNE. No, nothing of that kind.
EMILE. Well, then the worst hasn't come yet--Look! Over there! There he
comes. And I'll leave you. Good-bye, little girl.
JEANNE. Is he coming? Yes, that's him.
EMILE. Don't make him mad now--with your jealousy, Jeanne! [Goes out.]
JEANNE. No, I won't.
(MAURICE enters.)
MARION. [Runs up to him and is lifted up into his arms] Papa, papa!
MAURICE. My little girl! [Greets JEANNE] Can you forgive me, Jeanne,
that I have kept you waiting so long?
JEANNE. Of course I can.
MAURICE. But say it in such a way that I can hear that you are forgiving
me.
JEANNE. Come here and let me whisper it to you.
(MAURICE goes up close to her.)
(JEANNE kisses him on the cheek.)
MAURICE. I didn't hear.
(JEANNE kisses him on the mouth.)
MAURICE. Now I heard! Well--you know, I suppose that this is the day
that will settle my fate? My play is on for tonight, and there is every
chance that it will succeed--or fail.
JEANNE. I'll make sure of success by praying for you.
MAURICE. Thank you. If it doesn't help, it can at least do no harm--Look
over there, down there in the valley, where the haze is thickest: there
lies Paris. Today Paris doesn't know who Maurice is, but it is going to
know within twenty-four hours. The haze, which has kept me obscured for
thirty years, will vanish before my breath, and I shall become
visible, I shall assume definite shape and begin to be somebody. My
enemies--which means all who would like to do what I have done--will be
writhing in pains that shall be my pleasures, for they will be suffering
all that I have suffered.
JEANNE. Don't talk that way, don't!
MAURICE. But that's the way it is.
JEANNE. Yes, but don't speak of it--And then?
MAURICE. Then we are on firm ground, and then you and Marion will bear
the name I have made famous.
JEANNE. You love me then?
MAURICE. I love both of you, equally much, or perhaps Marion a little
more.
JEANNE. I am glad of it, for you can grow tired of me, but not of her.
MAURICE. Have you no confidence in my feelings toward you?
JEANNE. I don't know, but I am afraid of something, afraid of something
terrible--
MAURICE. You are tired out and depressed by your long wait, which once
more I ask you to forgive. What have you to be afraid of?
JEANNE. The unexpected: that which you may foresee without having any
particular reason to do so.
MAURICE. But I foresee only success, and I have particular reasons for
doing so: the keen instincts of the management and their knowledge
of the public, not to speak of their personal acquaintance with the
critics. So now you must be in good spirits--
JEANNE. I can't, I can't! Do you know, there was an Abbe here a while
ago, who talked so beautifully to us. My faith--which you haven't
destroyed, but just covered up, as when you put chalk on a window to
clean it--I couldn't lay hold on it for that reason, but this old man
just passed his hand over the chalk, and the light came through, and it
was possible again to see that the people within were at home--To-night
I will pray for you at St. Germain.
MAURICE. Now I am getting scared.
JEANNE. Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
MAURICE. God? What is that? Who is he?
JEANNE. It was he who gave joy to your youth and strength to your
manhood. And it is he who will carry us through the terrors that lie
ahead of us.
MAURICE. What is lying ahead of us? What do you know? Where have you
learned of this? This thing that I don't know?
JEANNE. I can't tell. I have dreamt nothing, seen nothing, heard
nothing. But during these two dreadful hours I have experienced such an
infinity of pain that I am ready for the worst.
MARION. Now I want to go home, mamma, for I am hungry.
MAURICE. Yes, you'll go home now, my little darling. [Takes her into his
arms.]
MARION. [Shrinking] Oh, you hurt me, papa!
JEANNE. Yes, we must get home for dinner. Good-bye then, Maurice. And
good luck to you!
MAURICE. [To MARION] How did I hurt you? Doesn't my little girl know
that I always want to be nice to her?
MARION. If you are nice, you'll come home with us.
MAURICE. [To JEANNE] When I hear the child talk like that, you know,
I feel as if I ought to do what she says. But then reason and duty
protest--Good-bye, my dear little girl! [He kisses the child, who puts
her arms around his neck.]
JEANNE. When do we meet again?
MAURICE. We'll meet tomorrow, dear. And then we'll never part again.
JEANNE. [Embraces him] Never, never to part again! [She makes the sign
of the cross on his forehead] May God protect you!
MAURICE. [Moved against his own will] My dear, beloved Jeanne!
(JEANNE and MARION go toward the right; MAURICE toward the left. Both
turn around simultaneously and throw kisses at each other.)
MAURICE. [Comes back] Jeanne, I am ashamed of myself. I am always
forgetting you, and you are the last one to remind me of it. Here are
the tickets for tonight.
JEANNE. Thank you, dear, but--you have to take up your post of duty
alone, and so I have to take up mine--with Marion.
MAURICE. Your wisdom is as great as the goodness of your heart. Yes,
I am sure no other woman would have sacrificed a pleasure to serve her
husband--I must have my hands free tonight, and there is no place for
women and children on the battle-field--and this you understood!
JEANNE. Don't think too highly of a poor woman like myself, and then
you'll have no illusions to lose. And now you'll see that I can be as
forgetful as you--I have bought you a tie and a pair of gloves which I
thought you might wear for my sake on your day of honour.
MAURICE. [Kissing her hand] Thank you, dear.
JEANNE. And then, Maurice, don't forget to have your hair fixed, as you
do all the time. I want you to be good-looking, so that others will like
you too.
MAURICE. There is no jealousy in YOU!
JEANNE. Don't mention that word, for evil thoughts spring from it.
MAURICE. Just now I feel as if I could give up this evening's
victory--for I am going to win--
JEANNE. Hush, hush!
MAURICE. And go home with you instead.
JEANNE. But you mustn't do that! Go now: your destiny is waiting for
you.
MAURICE. Good-bye then! And may that happen which must happen! [Goes
out.]
JEANNE. [Alone with MARION] O Crux! Ave spes unica!
Curtain.
SECOND SCENE
(The Cremerie. On the right stands a buffet, on which are placed
an aquarium with goldfish and dishes containing vegetables, fruit,
preserves, etc. In the background is a door leading to the kitchen,
where workmen are taking their meals. At the other end of the kitchen
can be seen a door leading out to a garden. On the left, in the
background, stands a counter on a raised platform, and back of it are
shelves containing all sorts of bottles. On the right, a long table
with a marble top is placed along the wall, and another table is placed
parallel to the first further out on the floor. Straw-bottomed chairs
stand around the tables. The walls are covered with oil-paintings.)
(MME. CATHERINE is sitting at the counter.)
(MAURICE stands leaning against it. He has his hat on and is smoking a
cigarette.)
MME. CATHERINE. So it's tonight the great event comes off, Monsieur
Maurice?
MAURICE. Yes, tonight.
MME. CATHERINE. Do you feel upset?
MAURICE. Cool as a cucumber.
MME. CATHERINE. Well, I wish you luck anyhow, and you have deserved it,
Monsieur Maurice, after having had to fight against such difficulties as
yours.
MAURICE. Thank you, Madame Catherine. You have been very kind to me, and
without your help I should probably have been down and out by this time.
MME. CATHERINE. Don't let us talk of that now. I help along where I
see hard work and the right kind of will, but I don't want to be
exploited--Can we trust you to come back here after the play and let us
drink a glass with you?
MAURICE. Yes, you can--of course, you can, as I have already promised
you.
(HENRIETTE enters from the right.)
(MAURICE turns around, raises his hat, and stares at HENRIETTE, who
looks him over carefully.)
HENRIETTE. Monsieur Adolphe is not here yet?
MME. CATHERINE. No, madame. But he'll soon be here now. Won't you sit
down?
HENRIETTE. No, thank you, I'll rather wait for him outside. [Goes out.]
MAURICE. Who--was--that?
MME. CATHERINE. Why, that's Monsieur Adolphe's friend.
MAURICE. Was--that--her?
MME. CATHERINE. Have you never seen her before?
MAURICE. No, he has been hiding her from me, just as if he was afraid I
might take her away from him.
MME. CATHERINE. Ha-ha!--Well, how did you think she looked?
MAURICE. How she looked? Let me see: I can't tell--I didn't see her, for
it was as if she had rushed straight into my arms at once and come so
close to me that I couldn't make out her features at all. And she left
her impression on the air behind her. I can still see her standing
there. [He goes toward the door and makes a gesture as if putting his
arm around somebody] Whew! [He makes a gesture as if he had pricked his
finger] There are pins in her waist. She is of the kind that stings!
MME. CATHERINE. Oh, you are crazy, you with your ladies!
MAURICE. Yes, it's craziness, that's what it is. But do you know, Madame
Catherine, I am going before she comes back, or else, or else--Oh, that
woman is horrible!
MME. CATHERINE. Are you afraid?
MAURICE. Yes, I am afraid for myself, and also for some others.
MME. CATHERINE. Well, go then.
MAURICE. She seemed to suck herself out through the door, and in her
wake rose a little whirlwind that dragged me along--Yes, you may laugh,
but can't you see that the palm over there on the buffet is still
shaking? She's the very devil of a woman!
MME. CATHERINE. Oh, get out of here, man, before you lose all your
reason.
MAURICE. I want to go, but I cannot--Do you believe in fate, Madame
Catherine?
MME. CATHERINE. No, I believe in a good God, who protects us against
evil powers if we ask Him in the right way.
MAURICE. So there are evil powers after all! I think I can hear them in
the hallway now.
MME. CATHERINE. Yes, her clothes rustle as when the clerk tears off a
piece of linen for you. Get away now--through the kitchen.
(MAURICE rushes toward the kitchen door, where he bumps into EMILE.)
EMILE. I beg your pardon. [He retires the way he came.]
ADOLPHE. [Comes in first; after him HENRIETTE] Why, there's Maurice. How
are you? Let me introduce this lady here to my oldest and best friend.
Mademoiselle Henriette--Monsieur Maurice.
MAURICE. [Saluting stiffly] Pleased to meet you.
HENRIETTA. We have seen each other before.
ADOLPHE. Is that so? When, if I may ask?
MAURICE. A moment ago. Right here.
ADOLPHE. O-oh!--But now you must stay and have a chat with us.
MAURICE. [After a glance at MME. CATHERINE] If I only had time.
ADOLPHE. Take the time. And we won't be sitting here very long.
HENRIETTE. I won't interrupt, if you have to talk business.
MAURICE. The only business we have is so bad that we don't want to talk
of it.
HENRIETTE. Then we'll talk of something else. [Takes the hat away from
MAURICE and hangs it up] Now be nice, and let me become acquainted with
the great author.
MME. CATHERINE signals to MAURICE, who doesn't notice her.
ADOLPHE. That's right, Henriette, you take charge of him. [They seat
themselves at one of the tables.]
HENRIETTE. [To MAURICE] You certainly have a good friend in Adolphe,
Monsieur Maurice. He never talks of anything but you, and in such a way
that I feel myself rather thrown in the background.
ADOLPHE. You don't say so! Well, Henriette on her side never leaves me
in peace about you, Maurice. She has read your works, and she is
always wanting to know where you got this and where that. She has been
questioning me about your looks, your age, your tastes. I have, in a
word, had you for breakfast, dinner, and supper. It has almost seemed as
if the three of us were living together.
MAURICE. [To HENRIETTE] Heavens, why didn't you come over here and have
a look at this wonder of wonders? Then your curiosity could have been
satisfied in a trice.
HENRIETTE. Adolphe didn't want it.
(ADOLPHE looks embarrassed.)
HENRIETTE. Not that he was jealous--
MAURICE. And why should he be, when he knows that my feelings are tied
up elsewhere?
HENRIETTE. Perhaps he didn't trust the stability of your feelings.
MAURICE. I can't understand that, seeing that I am notorious for my
constancy.
ADOLPHE. Well, it wasn't that--
HENRIETTE. [Interrupting him] Perhaps that is because you have not faced
the fiery ordeal--
ADOLPHE. Oh, you don't know--
HENRIETTE. [Interrupting]--for the world has not yet beheld a faithful
man.
MAURICE. Then it's going to behold one.
HENRIETTE. Where?
MAURICE. Here.
(HENRIETTE laughs.)
ADOLPHE. Well, that's going it--
HENRIETTE. [Interrupting him and directing herself continuously to
MAURICE] Do you think I ever trust my dear Adolphe more than a month at
a time?
MAURICE. I have no right to question your lack of confidence, but I can
guarantee that Adolphe is faithful.
HENRIETTE. You don't need to do so--my tongue is just running away with
me, and I have to take back a lot--not only for fear of feeling less
generous than you, but because it is the truth. It is a bad habit I have
of only seeing the ugly side of things, and I keep it up although I know
better. But if I had a chance to be with you two for some time, then
your company would make me good once more. Pardon me, Adolphe! [She puts
her hand against his cheek.]
ADOLPHE. You are always wrong in your talk and right in your actions.
What you really think--that I don't know.
HENRIETTE. Who does know that kind of thing?
MAURICE. Well, if we had to answer for our thoughts, who could then
clear himself?
HENRIETTE. Do you also have evil thoughts?
MAURICE. Certainly; just as I commit the worst kind of cruelties in my
dreams.
HENRIETTE. Oh, when you are dreaming, of course--Just think of it--No, I
am ashamed of telling--
MAURICE. Go on, go on!
HENRIETTE. Last night I dreamt that I was coolly dissecting the muscles
on Adolphe's breast--you see, I am a sculptor--and he, with his usual
kindness, made no resistance, but helped me instead with the worst
places, as he knows more anatomy than I.
MAURICE. Was he dead?
HENRIETTE. No, he was living.
MAURICE. But that's horrible! And didn't it make YOU suffer?
HENRIETTE. Not at all, and that astonished me most, for I am rather
sensitive to other people's sufferings. Isn't that so, Adolphe?
ADOLPHE. That's right. Rather abnormally so, in fact, and not the least
when animals are concerned.
MAURICE. And I, on the other hand, am rather callous toward the
sufferings both of myself and others.
ADOLPHE. Now he is not telling the truth about himself. Or what do you
say, Madame Catherine?
MME. CATHERINE. I don't know of anybody with a softer heart than
Monsieur Maurice. He came near calling in the police because I didn't
give the goldfish fresh water--those over there on the buffet. Just look
at them: it is as if they could hear what I am saying.
MAURICE. Yes, here we are making ourselves out as white as angels, and
yet we are, taking it all in all, capable of any kind of polite atrocity
the moment glory, gold, or women are concerned--So you are a sculptor,
Mademoiselle Henriette?
HENRIETTE. A bit of one. Enough to do a bust. And to do one of
you--which has long been my cherished dream--I hold myself quite
capable.
MAURICE. Go ahead! That dream at least need not be long in coming true.
HENRIETTE. But I don't want to fix your features in my mind until this
evening's success is over. Not until then will you have become what you
should be.
MAURICE. How sure you are of victory!
HENRIETTE. Yes, it is written on your face that you are going to win
this battle, and I think you must feel that yourself.
MAURICE. Why do you think so?
HENRIETTE. Because I can feel it. This morning I was ill, you know, and
now I am well.
(ADOLPHE begins to look depressed.)
MAURICE. [Embarrassed] Listen, I have a single ticket left--only one. I
place it at your disposal, Adolphe.
ADOLPHE. Thank you, but I surrender it to Henriette.
HENRIETTE. But that wouldn't do?
ADOLPHE. Why not? And I never go to the theatre anyhow, as I cannot
stand the heat.
HENRIETTE. But you will come and take us home at least after the show is
over.
ADOLPHE. If you insist on it. Otherwise Maurice has to come back here,
where we shall all be waiting for him.
MAURICE. You can just as well take the trouble of meeting us. In fact,
I ask, I beg you to do so--And if you don't want to wait outside the
theatre, you can meet us at the Auberge des Adrets--That's settled then,
isn't it?
ADOLPHE. Wait a little. You have a way of settling things to suit
yourself, before other people have a chance to consider them.
MAURICE. What is there to consider--whether you are to see your lady
home or not?
ADOLPHE. You never know what may be involved in a simple act like that,
but I have a sort of premonition.
HENRIETTE. Hush, hush, hush! Don't talk of spooks while the sun is
shining. Let him come or not, as it pleases him. We can always find our
way back here.
ADOLPHE. [Rising] Well, now I have to leave you--model, you know.
Good-bye, both of you. And good luck to you, Maurice. To-morrow you will
be out on the right side. Good-bye, Henriette.
HENRIETTE. Do you really have to go?
ADOLPHE. I must.
MAURICE. Good-bye then. We'll meet later.
(ADOLPHE goes out, saluting MME. CATHERINE in passing.)
HENRIETTE. Think of it, that we should meet at last!
MAURICE. Do you find anything remarkable in that?
HENRIETTE. It looks as if it had to happen, for Adolphe has done his
best to prevent it.
MAURICE. Has he?
HENRIETTE. Oh, you must have noticed it.
MAURICE. I have noticed it, but why should you mention it?
HENRIETTE. I had to.
MAURICE. No, and I don't have to tell you that I wanted to run away
through the kitchen in order to avoid meeting you and was stopped by a
guest who closed the door in front of me.
HENRIETTE. Why do you tell me about it now?
MAURICE. I don't know.
(MME. CATHERINE upsets a number of glasses and bottles.)
MAURICE. That's all right, Madame Catherine. There's nothing to be
afraid of.
HENRIETTE. Was that meant as a signal or a warning?
MAURICE. Probably both.
HENRIETTE. Do they take me for a locomotive that has to have flagmen
ahead of it?
MAURICE. And switchmen! The danger is always greatest at the switches.
HENRIETTE. How nasty you can be!
MME. CATHERINE. Monsieur Maurice isn't nasty at all. So far nobody has
been kinder than he to those that love him and trust in him.
MAURICE. Sh, sh, sh!
HENRIETTE. [To MAURICE] The old lady is rather impertinent.
MAURICE. We can walk over to the boulevard, if you care to do so.
HENRIETTE. With pleasure. This is not the place for me. I can just feel
their hatred clawing at me. [Goes out.]
MAURICE. [Starts after her] Good-bye, Madame Catherine.
MME. CATHERINE. A moment! May I speak a word to you, Monsieur Maurice?
MAURICE. [Stops unwillingly] What is it?
MME. CATHERINE. Don't do it! Don't do it!
MAURICE. What?
MME. CATHERINE. Don't do it!
MAURICE. Don't be scared. This lady is not my kind, but she interests
me. Or hardly that even.
MME. CATHERINE, Don't trust yourself!
MAURICE. Yes, I do trust myself. Good-bye. [Goes out.]
(Curtain.)