You c'n say that. Maybe it's true. But if the dead was to come back an'
was to say their say--'tis old Mrs. Henschel that could tell you a thing
or two. She couldn't live an' she didn't want to live! An' what's the
main thing--she wasn't to live!
SIEBENHAAR
Hauffe, you'd better take care! If Henschel were to get wind of that ...
HAUFFE
I wouldn't have to take care if he did! I'd say that to anyone's face.
Old Mrs. Henschel--she was meant to die! If they pisened her, I couldn't
say; I wasn't on the spot. But that thing didn't happen no natural way.
She was a well woman; she might ha' lived thirty years.
_SIEBENHAAR drinks and rises._
WALTHER
I c'n bear witness that she was well. She was my own sister an' I ought
to know. She was in the way an' had to go.
_SIEBENHAAR leaves quietly._
WERMELSKIRCH
Would you like a little snuff, gentlemen? [_Softly and confidentially._]
And don't you think, gentlemen, that you're going a little far? It seems
so to me. I wish you would watch the man. He sat here till quite late
yesterday. The man sighed so pitifully--there was no one else here--that
I really felt very sorry for him.
HAUFFE
'Tis his bad conscience that's botherin' him!
WALTHER
Don't talk to me about Henschel! I'm sick o' hearin' about him. He an'
me--we're through with each other this long time.
WERMELSKIRCH
No, no, Mr. Siebenhaar is right. One ought to feel sorry for him.
WALTHER
He c'n think about it what he pleases. I don't care. But what I ought to
think about Henschel--there's nobody that need tell me nothin' about
that!
_HENSCHEL and the smith HILDEBRANT enter at the right. HENSCHEL is
carrying little BERTHA, more neatly dressed than formerly, on his
arm. A little pause of embarrassment falls upon the men._
WERMELSKIRCH
Welcome, Mr. Henschel.
HENSCHEL
Good mornin', all of ye.
FRANZISKA
Well, Berthel, how are you?
HENSCHEL
Say thank you! Well, can't you talk?--We gets along. A body has to be
satisfied. Good mornin', brother. [_He stretches out his hand carelessly
to WALTHER who takes it in the same fashion._] How are you? How's
everythin'?
WALTHER
I gets along as usual. 'Twouldn't be bad if it was better! You're a
reg'lar nurse girl nowadays!
HENSCHEL
True, true! 'Tis almost that!
WALTHER
You're hardly ever seen without the girl. Can't you leave her with her
mother?
HENSCHEL
She's always scourin' an' workin'. The little thing is just in her way!
[_He sits down on a bench along the wall near the bar, not far from his
brother-in-law. He keeps the little girl on his lap. HILDEBRANT sits down
opposite him._] How is it, Hildebrant, what shall we have? I think we've
earned a bumper o' beer? Two of 'em, then, an two glasses o' brandy.
HILDEBRANT
That son of a--actually broke my skin!
HENSCHEL
Nothin' but a foal neither an' has the strength o'--... Good mornin',
Hauffe.
HAUFFE
Mornin'.
HENSCHEL
He's a bit surly. Let's not bother him.
FABIG
Mr. Henschel, won't you buy something o' me? A needle box for the wife,
maybe, or a pretty little comb to stick in the hair! [_All laugh._]
George, the waiter, he bought one too.
HENSCHEL
[_Laughing good-naturedly with the others._] Don't you come botherin' me
with your trash! [_To WERMELSKIRCH._] Give him a measure o' beer!--'Tis a
quaint little chap he is. Who is it?
HILDEBRANT
'Tis Fabig from Quolsdorf, I think--the most mischievous little scamp in
the county.
HENSCHEL
Well, I got a little native from Quolsdorf here too.
FABIG
[_To BERTHA._] We're good old friends, eh?
BERTHA
[_To FABIG._] Why don't you dive me some nuts?
FABIG
Aha, she knows who I is! I'll look an' see if I c'n find some!
BERTHA
Outside in the waggon!
FABIG
No, they're here in my pocket! [_He gives them to the child._] You see,
you don't get out o' the pubs. Long ago your grandfather took you along;
now you got to go about with Henschel.
HENSCHEL
[_To BERTHA._] Tell him to attend to his bit o' trash! Tell him you're
bein' looked out for! Tell him that!
_GEORGE comes vivaciously out of the billiard room._
GEORGE
[_Without noticing HENSCHEL._] Well,--I never saw the likes o' that! That
there feller c'n eat glass like anythin'. Put it down on the reckoning,
Miss Franziska: a lot o' beer! There's five o' us!
FRANZISKA
[_Has taken BERTHA on her arm. She goes with the child behind the bar._]
Bertha won't permit it; I can't do it now!
GEORGE
Good heavens, Mr. Henschel, there you are too!
HENSCHEL
[_Without noticing GEORGE, to HILDEBRANT._] Your health, Hildebrant!
[_They clink their glasses and drink._
FABIG
[_To GEORGE who, a little taken aback, lights his cigar at one of the
tables._] Tell me this, mister George, you're a kind of a wizard, eh?
GEORGE
Well, I do declare! What makes you think so?
FABIG
'Cause a while ago, you was gone like a light that's blown out.
GEORGE
Well, what's the use o' huntin' for disagreeable things. Siebenhaar an'
me--we can't agree, that's all.
FABIG
[_With the gesture of boxing another's ears._] People do say that
somethin' happened.--[_Passing by, to HAUFFE._] Did you win in the
lottery? eh?
HAUFFE
You damned vermin!
FABIG
Yes, that's just what I am.
HENSCHEL
Is it true that you're working down at Nentwich's now?
HAUFFE
What business is it o' yours?
HENSCHEL
[_Laughing and quite even-tempered._] Now look at that feller. He pricks
like a weasel wherever you touches him.
WALTHER
I s'pose you'll be our host here pretty soon now?
HENSCHEL
[_After he has glanced at him in astonishment._] That's the first ever
I've heard of it!
WALTHER
Oh, I thought! I don't know exackly who 'twas that told me.
HENSCHEL
[_Drinking: indifferently._] Whoever told you that must ha' been
dreamin'!
[_Pause._]
HILDEBRANT
In this here house everythin' is bein' turned upside down now. An' what I
says is this: You'll be all sighin' to have Siebenhaar back some day.
HENSCHEL
[_To HAUFFE._] You might go over to Landeshut. I got two coach horses
standin' there. You might ride them in for me.
HAUFFE
The hell I will--that's what I'll do for you.
HENSCHEL
[_Laughing and calmly._] Well, now you c'n sit there till you gets blue
in the face. I won't concern myself that much about you!
HAUFFE
You c'n keep busy sweepin' before your own door.
HENSCHEL
'Tis well, 'tis well. We'll let that there be.
HAUFFE
You got filth enough in your own house!
HENSCHEL
Hauffe, I tell you right now: I wouldn't like to do it. But if you're
goin' to start trouble here--I tell you that--I'll kick you out!
WERMELSKIRCH
Peace, gentlemen! I beg of you: peace!
HAUFFE
You're not the host here an' you can't kick nobody out! You has no more
right to say anythin' here than me! I don't let you nor nobody tell me to
hold my tongue. No, not you an' not your wife, no matter how you scheme,
you two! That don't scare me an' don't bother me that much!
_Without any show of anger, HENSCHEL grasps HAUFFE by the chest and
pushes him, struggling in vain, toward the door. Just before reaching
it he turns slightly, opens the door, puts HAUFFE out, and closes it
again. During this scene the following colloquy takes place:_
HAUFFE
Let go, I tell you! I just warn you: let go!
WERMELSKIRCH
Mr. Henschel, that won't do; I can't permit that!
HENSCHEL
I gave you fair warnin'! There's no help for you now.
HAUFFE
Are you goin' to choke me? Let go, I tell you! You're not the host here!
MRS. WERMELSKIRCH
[_From behind the bar._] What's the meaning of this? That will never do,
Ludwig! You can't permit yourself to be treated that way!
FABIG
[_While HENSCHEL, holding HAUFFE, is rapidly approaching the door._] You
might as well let it be. There's nothin' to be done. That there man--he's
like an athlete. He'll bite his teeth into the edge of a table, and he'll
lift the table up for you so steady, you won't notice a glass on it
shakin'. If he went an' took the notion, I tell you, we'd all be flyin'
out into the street different ways!
_HAUFFE has been put out, HENSCHEL returns._
HENSCHEL
[_Resuming his seat amid a general silence._] He wouldn't give no
rest--he's that stubborn.
FIRST FIREMAN
[_Who has come in out of the billiard room and drunk a glass of whisky at
the bar._] I'd like to pay. A man had better go. In the end anybody
might be flyin' out o' here, you know.
WERMELSKIRCH
Yon take another glass of beer. That would be the last straw. After all,
I am still master here.
WALTHER
If that's the way you're goin' to do, Henschel, when you stands behind
the bar and runs this here place instead o' Wermelskirch--you won't keep
many customers, I c'n tell you that!
HENSCHEL
Customers like that don't matter.
WALTHER
You won't be able to pick 'em out, though. Hauffe don't pay with
counterfeit money neither.
HENSCHEL
He c'n pay anyway he wants to, for all I care. But I tell you again now:
Don't start that there business over again. I won't be takin' this place
at all. If I was goin' to take it, I ought to know better than anybody
else. Well, then: if I'm ready to buy a pub some day--I'll let you know!
Afterward you c'n give me your advice. An' if you don't like the place
an' don't patronise it--well, then, Lord A'mighty, you don't has to!
_The FIREMAN goes out slamming the door angrily behind him._
WALTHER
I s'pose it's just as well to go....
[_He prepares to pay his score._
WERMELSKIRCH
Mr. Henschel, surely that isn't right of you. You drive my customers out.
HENSCHEL
Well, my goodness! Now tell me: If that man runs out, what has I to do
with it? For my part he can stay here till mornin'.
WALTHER
[_Pocketing his money again._] You got no right to put anybody out o'
here. You're not the host.
HENSCHEL
Anythin' else you know?
WALTHER
People knows a good deal. Only they rather keep still. Wermelskirch knows
that best of all!
WERMELSKIRCH
Why I exactly? Now, look here, that's ...
HENSCHEL
[_Firmly and collectedly._] What is't you know? Out with it! One o' you
knows one thing an' another another, an' altogether you don't know that
much!
[_Pause._]
WALTHER
[_In a changed tone._] If you were only the same man you used to be! But
God only knows what's gotten into you! In those days you had a standin'
among men. People came from far an' wide to get your advice. An' what you
said, that was--you might say--almost like the law o' the land. 'Twas
like Amen in church. An' now there's no gettin' along with you!
HENSCHEL
Go right ahead with your preachin'.
WALTHER
Very well, I s'pose you're noticin' it all yourself. Formerly, you had
nothin' but friends. Nowadays nobody comes to you no more; an' even if
they did want to come they stay away on account o' your wife. Twenty
years Hauffe served you faithful. Then, suddenly, he don't suit your
wife, an' you take him by the scruff an' put him out. What's the meanin'
o' that! That woman has but to look at you an' you're jumpin' at her
beck, instead o' goin' an' takin' a stout rope an' knockin' the
wickedness out o' her!
HENSCHEL
If you don't keep still this minute--I'll take you by the scruff too.
GEORGE
[_To HENSCHEL._] Don't forget yourself, whatever you do, Mr. Henschel!
That man don't know no better, you see.
[_Exit rapidly into the billiard room._
WALTHER
I believe, Henschel, if a man comes nowadays an' tells you the truth,
you're capable o' flingin' him against the wall. But a feller like that,
a worthless windbag like George--he c'n lie to you day an' night. Your
wife an' he--they c'n compete with each other makin' a fool o' you! If
you want to be cheated--all right! But if you got a pair o' eyes left in
your head, open 'em once an' look around you an' look at that there
feller good an' hard. Them two deceive you in broad daylight!
HENSCHEL
[_About to hurl himself upon WALTHER, masters his rage._] What did you
say--eh? Nothin'! Aw, it's all right.
[_Pause._]
FABIG
It's reg'lar April weather this day. Now the sun shines an' now it blows
again.
HAUFFE'S VOICE
[_From without._] I'll pay you back for this! You watch out! You c'n let
it be now! We'll meet again: we'll meet at court--that's where.
WALTHER
[_Finishes his glass._] Good-bye. I'm meanin' well by you, Henschel.
HENSCHEL
[_Lays his hand about WALTHER'S wrist._] You stay here! Y' understan'?
WALTHER
What is I to do here?
HENSCHEL
You'll see for yourself. All I says is: You stay! [_To FRANZISKA._] Go
down an' tell my wife she's to come up!
_FRANZISKA goes._
WERMELSKIRCH
But, dear Mr. Henschel, I beg you, for heaven's sake, don't cause a
scandal here! The police will be coming at me next, and then ...
HENSCHEL
[_In an outburst of towering, withering rage--bluish-red of face._] I'll
beat you all to death if Hanne don't come here--now!!!
WALTHER
[_In helpless perplexity._] Wilhelm, Wilhelm, don' go an' commit some
foolishness now! I wish I hadn't said nothin'. An' it didn't mean
nothin'. You know yourself how people will talk!
HILDEBRANT
Wilhelm, you're a good man. Come to your senses! My God, how you look!
Think, man, think! Why, you fairly roared! What's the matter with you?
That must ha' been heard all over the house!
HENSCHEL
Anybody c'n hear me now that wants to. But you stay here an' Hanne is to
come here.
WALTHER
Why should I be stayin' here? I don't know what for! Your affairs--they
don't concern me a bit. I don't mingle in 'em an' I don't want to!
HENSCHEL
Then you should ha' thought before you spoke!
WALTHER
Everythin' else that's between us'll be settled in court. There we'll see
who's in the right. I'll get hold o' my money; never fear! Maybe you're
wife'll think it over once or twice before she goes an' perjures herself.
The rest don't concern me. I tell you to let me go. I has no time. I has
to go to Hartau, an' I can't be kept waitin' here.
_SIEBENHAAR re-enters._
SIEBENHAAR
What's happened here?
WERMELSKIRCH
Goodness, gracious, I don't know! I don't know what Mr. Henschel wants!
HENSCHEL
[_Who continues to imprison WALTHER'S wrist._] Hanne is to come here:
that's all.
MRS. WERMELSKIRCH
[_To SIEBENHAAR._] The men were drinking their beer quite peacefully.
Suddenly Mr. Henschel came in and began a dispute as though he were
master here.
SIEBENHAAR
[_With a deprecating gesture._] All right; all right. [_To HENSCHEL._]
What's happened to you, Henschel?
HENSCHEL
Mr. Siebenhaar, it's no fault o' mine. I couldn't help things comin'
about this way. You may think what you please, Mr. Siebenhaar. I give you
my word--'twasn't my fault.
SIEBENHAAR
You needn't excuse yourself to me, Henschel. I know you're a man of
peace.
HENSCHEL
Yes. I was in your father's service long ago, an' even if it looks that
way a thousand times over--it wasn't my fault that this here has
happened. I don't know myself what I has done. I never was
quarrelsome--that's certain! But now things has come about ...! They
scratch an' they bite at me--all of 'em! An' now this man here has said
things o' my wife that he's got to prove--prove!!--or God help him!
SIEBENHAAR
Why don't you let the people gossip?
HENSCHEL
Proofs! Proofs! Or God help him!
WALTHER
I can prove it an' I will. There are not many people in this room that
don't know it as well as I. That there woman is on an evil way. 'Tis no
fault o' mine, an' I wouldn't ha' mentioned it. But I'm not goin' to let
you strike me. I'm no liar. I always speaks the truth! Ask it of anybody!
Ask Mr. Siebenhaar here on his honour an' conscience! The sparrows is
twitterin' it on every roof--an' worse things 'n that!
SIEBENHAAR
Think over what you're saying carefully, Walther.
WALTHER
He forces me to it! Why don't he let me go? Why is I to suffer for other
people? You know it all as well as I? How did you used to stand with
Henschel in other years when his first wife was alive? D'you think people
don't know that? An' now you don't cross his threshold.
SIEBENHAAR
The relations between us are our private affair. And I will not permit
remark or interference.
WALTHER
All right. But if first his wife dies, though she's as well as anybody,
an' when Gustel goes an' dies eight weeks later, then, I'm thinkin' it's
more'n a private affair!
HENSCHEL
What?--Hanne is to come!
_MRS. HENSCHEL enters suddenly and quickly, just as she has come from
her work and still drying her hands._
MRS. HENSCHEL
What're you roarin' about so?
HENSCHEL
'Tis well that you're here.--This man here says--
MRS. HENSCHEL
[_Makes a movement as if to go._] Damned rot that it ...
HENSCHEL
You're to stay here!
MRS. HENSCHEL
Are you all drunk together? What're you thinkin' of, anyhow? D'you think
I'm goin' to stay here an' play monkey tricks for you?
[_She is about to go._
HENSCHEL
Hanne, I advise you ... This man here says ...
MRS. HENSCHEL
Aw, he c'n say what he wants to, for all I cares!
HENSCHEL
He says that you deceive me before my face an' behind my back!
MRS. HENSCHEL
What? What? What? What?
HENSCHEL
That's what he says! Is he goin' to dare to say that? An' that ... my
wife ...
MRS. HENSCHEL
Me? Lies! Damned lies!
[_She throws her apron over her face and rushes out._
HENSCHEL
That I ... that my wife ... that we together ... that our Gustel ... 'Tis
well! 'Tis well!
[_He releases WALTHER'S hand and lets his head sink, moaning, on the
table._
WALTHER
I won't be made out a liar here.
THE CURTAIN FALLS.
THE FIFTH ACT
_The same room as in the first three acts. It is night, but the
moonlight throws a moderate brightness into the room. It is empty.
Several days have passed since the occurrences in the fourth act._
_A candle is lit in the small adjoining room; at the end of a few
seconds HENSCHEL enters, carrying the candle in a candlestick of tin.
He wears leathern breeches but his feet are cased in bedroom
slippers. Slowly he approaches the table, gazes hesitatingly first
backward, then toward the window, finally puts the candlestick on the
table and sits down by the window. He leans his chin on his hand and
stares at the moon._
MRS. HENSCHEL
[_Invisible, from the adjoining chamber, calls:_] Husband! Husband! What
are you doin' out there?--the same mortal foolishness all the time!
--[_She looks in, but half-clad._] Where are you? Come 'n go to bed! 'Tis
time to sleep! To-morrow you won't be able to go out again! You'll be
lyin' like a sack o' meal and everythin' 'll go upside down in the yard.
[_She comes out, half-clad as she is, and approaches HENSCHEL
hesitatingly and fearfully._] What are you doin', eh?
HENSCHEL
--Me?
MRS. HENSCHEL
Why are you sittin' there an' not sayin' a word?
HENSCHEL
I'm lookin' at the clouds.
MRS. HENSCHEL
Oh, no, my goodness; it's enough to confuse a person's head! What's to be
seen up there, I'd like to know! The same worry, night after night.
There's no rest in the world for nobody no more. What are you starin' at?
Say somethin', won't you?
HENSCHEL
Up there!... That's where they are!
MRS. HENSCHEL
You're dreaming, eh? You, Wilhelm, wake up! Lay down in your bed an' go
to sleep. There's nothin' but clouds up there!
HENSCHEL
Anybody that has eyes c'n see what there is!
MRS. HENSCHEL
An' anybody that gets confused in his mind goes crazy.
HENSCHEL
I'm not confused.
MRS. HENSCHEL I'm not sayin' that you are! But if you go on actin' this
way, you will be!
[_She shivers, pulls on a jacket, and stirs the ashes in the oven
with a poker._
HENSCHEL
What time is it?
MRS. HENSCHEL
A quarter of two.
HENSCHEL
You've got a watch hangin' to you; it used to hang behind the door.
MRS. HENSCHEL
What fancies is you goin' to have next? 'Tis hangin' where it always did.
HENSCHEL
[_Rising._] I think I'll go over to the stables a bit.
MRS. HENSCHEL
I tells you to go to bed, or I'll raise an alarm. You got nothin' to do
in the stable now! 'Tis night, an' in bed is where you belong!
HENSCHEL
[_Remains standing quietly and looking at HANNE._] Where's Gustel?
MRS. HENSCHEL
What are you botherin' for? She's lyin' in bed asleep! What are you
always worritin' over the girl for? She don't lack for nothin'! I don't
do nothin' to her!
HENSCHEL
She don't lack for nothin'. She's gone to bed. She's gone to sleep
betimes--Gustel has. I don't mean Berthel.
MRS. HENSCHEL
[_Wailing, stuffs her apron into her mouth._] I'll run away! I won't stay
here!
HENSCHEL
--Go to bed, go! I'll come too. Your cryin' can't help no more now. 'Tis
our Lord alone knows whose fault it is. You can't help it; you don't need
to cry.--Our Lord an' me--we two, we knows.
_[He turns the key in the door._
MRS. HENSCHEL
[_Hastily turning it back again._] Why d'you lock the door? I won't stand
bein' locked in.
HENSCHEL
I don't rightly know why I turned the key.
MRS. HENSCHEL
Them people has gone an' addled your brains for you! They'll have to
answer some day for the things they've put into your head! I took as good
care o' your girl as I did o' my own. She wouldn't ha' died o' that! But
I can't wake the dead. If a body is to die, she dies--in this world.
There's no holdin' people like that; they has to go. There never was much
strength in Gustel--you know that as well as I. Why do you go axin' me
an' lookin' at me as if I done God knows what to her!
HENSCHEL
[_Suspiciously._] Maybe you did somethin'. 'Tis not impossible.
MRS. HENSCHEL
[_Beside herself._] Oh, if somebody'd foretold this--I'd ha' gone beggin'
my bread first. No, no, O my goodness, if I'd ha' known that! To have to
listen to things like that! Didn't I want to go? An' who kept me back?
Who held me fast in the house here? I could ha' made my livin' any time!
I wasn't afraid; I could always work. But you didn't let up. Now I got my
reward. Now _I_ got to suffer for it!
HENSCHEL
'Tis true, maybe, that you has to suffer for it. Things comes _as_ they
come. What c'n a body do?
[_He locks the door again._
MRS. HENSCHEL
You're to leave the door open, Wilhelm, or I'll cry for help!
HENSCHEL
--Sh! Keep still! Did you hear? There's somethin' runnin' along the
passage. D'you hear? Now it goes to the washstand. D'you hear the
splashin'? She's standin' there an' washin' herself!
MRS. HENSCHEL
You! Wilhelm! You're dreamin'! The wash-stand is in here!
HENSCHEL
That's just it! I know very well! They can't deceive me. I know what I
know, [_Hurriedly._] That's all I say.--Come, come, let's go to bed.
Time'll show.
[_While he approaches the door of the next room, Mrs. HENSCHEL softly
unlocks the door to the hall and slips out._
HENSCHEL
[_Taking down a whip from the frame of the door._] Why, that's my old
Triest whip! Where does that old thing come from? I haven't seen it for
over a year. That was bought in mother's time. [_He listens._] What d'you
say? Eh?--O' course ... Certainly.--Nothin'!--Well, s'posin'! An' why
not? 'Tis well!--I know what I has to do!--I won't be stubborn.--You let
that be too.
_SIEBENHAAR enters by the door which is slightly ajar. By means of
gestures he signifies to WERMELSKIRCH, who follows him, that the
latter is to remain behind, also to MRS. HENSCHEL. He is fully clad
except that he wears a silk kerchief instead of a collar.
WERMELSKIRCH is in his dressing-gown._
SIEBENHAAR
Good evening, Mr. Henschel! What? Are you still up? You're not well, eh?
What's the matter with you?
HENSCHEL
[_After he has, for several seconds, regarded him with perplexity;
simply:_] I just can't sleep. I don't get sleepy at all! I'd like to take
some medicine, if I knew any. I don't know how it comes. God knows!
SIEBENHAAR
I'll tell you somethin', old friend: You go quietly to bed now, and
to-morrow, real early, I'll send the doctor in. You must really take some
serious step now.
HENSCHEL
No doctor won't be able to help me.
SIEBENHAAR
You mustn't say that; we'll see about that! Doctor Richter knows his
business. My wife couldn't sleep for weeks; her head ached as if it would
burst. Last Monday she took a powder, and now she sleeps all night like
the dead.
HENSCHEL
Yes, yes ... well, well ... 'Tis possible! I'd like it well enough if I
could sleep.--Is the madam reel sick?
SIEBENHAAR
Oh, we're all a little under the weather. When once Monday is past,
everything will straighten out again.
HENSCHEL
I s'pose you has to turn over the property on Monday.
SIEBENHAAR
Yes, I hope it will be possible to arrange it by Monday. In the meantime
the work is heaping up so--what with writing and making the
inventory--that I scarcely get out of my clothes. But come now, Henschel,
and go to bed. One man has one trouble and another has another. Life is
no joke and we must all see how we can best fight our way through. And
even if many strange thoughts pass through your head--don't take them to
heart so!
HENSCHEL
Thank you many times, Mr. Siebenhaar. Don't take anythin' in ill part,
please. An' good luck to you an' your wife!
SIEBENHAAR