[Acting as though he were driving away ducks, flaps his leathern apron and rattles his wooden shoes.] Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!
MRS. SCHULZE retires into the house, shaking her head.
Them ducks is your regular fire eaters. There don't need nothin' but for some sparks to fly off an', right straight off, they gobbles 'em down. Then we gets what you might call roast duck that never meant to be roasted. An' my old woman she ain't no friend o' that.
RAUCHHAUPT looks over the fence to the left.
There's been a big fire again over there behind Landsberg. All the houses on a great estate is ashes.
Did you maybe see Gustav anywhere?
Mornin', old boy! No, not me! Has he gone an' run off again?
I ordered him to go over to the Fielitzes.
The Fielitzes have all gone in to town.
I don't know, but there's a kind o' burned smell in the air … Ouch! [He distorts his face in pain and grasps his leg.] Ain't Leontine here?
Naw, she had to go to court to-day. Always the same trouble with the alimony. That confounded feller, he don't pay.
[Calls out.] Gustav! [He listens and then turns leisurely back to the little gate. The wind worries and drives him.] Gustav!
Stiff wind coming up, all right! [RAUCHHAUPT disappears.] Ede!
All right.
Let's get to work now! [He spits into his hands and sets to work vigorously.] Well, Doctor, where've you been runnin' about? Did you get as far as the Chinese? You gotta tell us all about that some day when we got plenty o' time for it.
Surely, I've been all over.
Did you see the sea-serpent too?
Da. BOXER
Surely, Langheinrich, far down in the South Seas.
An' it's true that it feeds on dill pickles?
Several hundred dozen a day.
[Laughing.] That's all right then. An' when, you see that serpent again, just give her my best regards.
I doubt whether I'll ever get so far again in life.
I guess you got all you wanted o' that? Now you see. Doctor, you just got to the point where I am exactly an' I didn't have to move from this spot.—Well, I guess your old mother, she'll be glad. She's gettin' along all right. Doin' reel well. I always looked in a bit now an' then, helpin' to see that things was all right.
And that was very good in you, Langheinrich.
Naw! Pshaw! I ain't sayin' it on that account. By the way, though, before I forget. I got a little account standin' with your good mother—for taffeta an' silk an' needles an' thread. Some cloth, too. My wife used 'em sewing. I'll straighten that up very soon.
[Deprecatingly.] Never mind. That matter will be arranged.
Ede!
All right?
Hurry along now! [He takes up a heavy hammer.] If I don't go right on workin' I'll end by bustin' out o' my skin.
EDE approaches with a white hot piece of iron in the tongs and holds it on the anvil.
Now we're goin' to start, Doctor! Down on it! Hit it now! [He and DR. BOXER beat the iron, keeping time with each other.] Well, you see! It's got to go evenly. Doctor! Then I tell you the work's smooth as butter.
[They stop hammering; EDE takes up the iron again, takes it into the smithy and holds it into the flame.
[Takes up the water can again and sets it to his lips.] There ain't much to this!
[Drinks.
Things like that makes you thirsty.
LANGHEINRICH puts the can down.
You c'n believe me, Doctor: it was fine anyhow.
What was it that was go very fine?
Lord! I don't know! I don't know nothin' much. But when I met ConstableSchulze I had a devil of a good time—that's what!
An' now a glass o' beer from Grabow over there. That's what I could stand fine just now.
Hurry! Get three steins! Dr. Boxer will pay for 'em.
EDE wipes his hands on his apron and goes.
An' so you want to settle down here now! That ain't no bad idea neither. Only this: you got to be up to all kinds o' tricks here. An' if you want my advice, Doctor, don't go to people for nothin'.
Do you think that I'll be unmolested in other respects?
Aw, them old stories! Them's all outlawed by now. An' then, nowadays they can't worry people so much no more as they used to do under the old laws.
Well, at all events I'll make the attempt … My political ardour has cooled off. If these people annoy me in spite of that, I'll simply trudge off again. I'll go back to sea, or I'll let myself be engaged …
Pretty easy drownin' on water!
[Continuing.] … Then I'll let myself be engaged to go to Brazil with the Russian Jews.
What would you get out o' that?
Yellow fever, perhaps.
Anything else. Doctor? That wouldn't be nothin' for me!
I believe that.
Me go an' wear myself out for other people? Not me! No, sir! I don't do nothin' like that. An' why should I? Nobody don't give me nothin'. I tell you people in this world is a pretty sly set. I've had time to find that out.
You're a regular heathen: you're not a Christian at all!
That kind o' talk don't do much good with me. I'm a Christian just like all the rest is! The people that sit in the new church here … 'cause they built a new church here now!… if them is Christians, the Lord forgive 'em.
That's easily said, Langheinrich. But one ought not to be a Pharisee.Where is your Christian long-suffering?
No, I ain't goin' in for long-sufferin'. I'm a sinner myself; that's true all right. But now you take this Dalchow here for instance! It'd take the devil to be long-sufferin' wherehe'sconcerned! What did he do with that son o' his. He kicked him out, that's what, by night, in winter. Then he tied him up and beat him till he couldn't gasp. An' then he apprenticed the little feller to a butcher so that he had to drive out the sheep! An' all the time jabbin' at him an' overworkin' him till in the end the poor little crittur went an' drowned hisself in the lake. Just shook his head an' kept still an' then dived down an' that was the end.
[Ironically.] I don't see what you've got against Dalchow, Langheinrich? He's a man who seems to understand his business magnificently.
Yes, ruinin' girls an' that sort o' thing, that's what. An' then beatin' his hat around their heads an' sayin': Out with the low strumpet! That's what they is all of a sudden when it's he that made 'em—whatthey is!—Oh, an' then he's a great friend o' Wehrhahn's an' grunts out like a swine in public meetin's: There ain't no more morality these days … an' there ought to be laws against such doin's … an' so on, an' so on … an' if you'd like to go to church, there the old rotten sinner sits an' turns up his eyes. [A distant ringing of church bells if heard.] Listen to that! The sparrow is singin'.—I always calls that the sparrow, Doctor. I always says: the sparrow sings. I mean when them bells is ringin'. An' ain't I right that it's the sparrow that sings? 'Cause since Wehrhahn got that bird in his buttonhole them bells has begun to ring. An' if the bells didn't go an' ring, why he wouldn't have no decoration neither.
EDE comes in grinning and carrying three steins of beer.
Oho, listen there, the sparrow is singin'.
Well, you see, he don't call it nothin' else no more. [Each of the three holds a stein. They knock them together.] Your health! An' welcome back to the old country! [They drink.] That's a fine evenin' this mornin'. I'd like to see this night by day.
Now I'm goin' to blaspheme a bit. I'm not opposed to the building of churches at all.
An' I ain't neither. People gets work! I didn't get any this time, though. An' even if there's a little trouble now an' then, Pastor Friderici an' a bit o' nonsense with coloured windows an' altar cloths—that don't do no harm. People has to have a little.
Yes, those people are entitled to cultivate their own pleasures. And then, Langheinrich, a higher principle has to be represented somehow.
Sure, an' it brings people out here too, you c'n believe me. Buildin' lots has gone up considerable.
That's so. An' there was a man onct that didn't have no roof over his head … No, that ain't the way to begin what I want to say.—I was onct out on the heath—far out. All of a sudden: what d'you think I heard, Doctor! I heard a dickens of a screechin'.—I goes up to it. Crows! Yes, sir. There was a feller hangin' high up in a pine tree—tailor's journeyman from over in Berkenbruck: he hanged hisself on account o' starvation—hanged hisself high up.—Yes, there's always got to be somethin' higher!
[While they finish drinking their beer the long-drawn cries of pain of a man's voice are heard from some distance. The wind has risen considerably.
What is that?
Rauchhaupt. Nothin' to worry about.
Sounds kind o' gruesome, don't it? 'Tain't nothin' very lovely neither. When that feller's pains in his leg gets hold o' him an' he roars out that way o' nights—that goes right through an' through any one. No, before I'd stand pain like that I'd go an' put a bullet through my head.
Gee-rusalem! That's a wind again. Look out, Doctor, that your hat don't fly away.
A hat is whirled by the wind along the street. SCHMAROWSKI, hatless, a roll of paper in his hand, runs chasing it.
Run along, sonny! Right on there! Show us what you c'n do!
That hat is tired of his position: wants a holiday.
[Who has recovered his hat, turns angrily to DR. BOXER.] What was that very appropriate remark you made just now?
That you are an excellent runner.
Schmarowski!
Boxer!
Much pleased.—Now I'd like to ask you a question. Do you know what a fathead is?
No.
You don't? Neither do I. But now tell me: you know what aschlemihlis,I suppose.
Nothin' broke loose here? What's all this about? Easy now, easy! Howdy do, Mr. Schmarowski? How are you? Have you come to visit your mother-in-law?
I have business here!—And before I forget it, I should like to say: Have the goodness to be more careful.
Who is this amusing gentleman, Langheinrich?
That's Mrs. Wolff's son-in-law.
I'll have no dealings with you at all.
Naw, you better not.
Not with you—[Turning to DR. BOXER.] But if you don't know who I am, you can get information from Baron von Wehrhahn, the Right Reverend Bishop, the Baroness Bielschewski and the Countess Strach.
You want me to go around and get information from all those people?
That's what you're to do—just that an' nothing else. Then maybe you can be more careful in future an' look people over before you talk.
What's gotten into you to-day? You're so dam' touchy!
[To DR. BOXER, who has glanced at EDE and LANGHEINRICH alternately with serene laughter.] You just be so good an' be more careful: we ain't so soft. We don't take jokes so easy, especially not from the race to which you …
Hold on, Mr. Schmarowski! That's enough! Nothin' like that here. That's enough an' too much, Mr. Schmarowski. You just see about gettin' along on your way now.
Do you know where I am going straight from here?
You c'n go straight ahead to the Lord hisself! You c'n go where you want to, Schmarowski; only, don't be keepin' me from my work. We ain't got no time to lose here!—Ede, put that axle in!
SCHMAROWSKI exit, enraged.
Good-bye!
So that was Mr. Schmarowski, the envied pillar of the church? Why, he's a poisonous little devil!
Yes, you're right there! Pois'nous is what he is. So you didn't, know him, Dr. Boxer? Well, then you've seen him now—nothin' but a little, sly, venomous pup! But you ought to go an' watch him when he gets in with that pious crowd. Then he lets his ears hang, so 'umble his own mother wouldn't hardly know him, like as if he was sayin': I ain't goin' to live more'n two weeks at—most an' then I'm goin' to heaven to be with Jesus. Yes! Likely! There's another place where he's goin'. But that won't be soon. He ain't thinkin' of it much yet. An' in the meantime he rolls his eyes upward 'cause somethin' might be hangin' round that he c'n make a profit on.
Well, you c'n look out now! Yon ain't goin' to get no work on the new institution.
I know that. Can't be helped. Things is as they is. Can't hold' my tongue at things like that. I won't learn that in a lifetime.
Have you many of that kind hereabouts now?
So, so. Enough to last for the winter.
RAUCHHAUPT has come out of the little gate. He faces the wind, shades his eyes with his hand and peers around.
Lord A'mighty! Well, well! Things is goin' the queerest way to-day! When is they comin' back—them Fielitzes?
That ain't goin' to be so very soon to-day. They've gone to buy a seven-day clock, a regulator. What are you upset about to-day?
Wha'? Fielitz goin' to buy that kind of a clock? I don't believe's he c'n survive that. [Calls.] Gustav!
Ain't he come back yet? I guess he's listenin' to the bells. You know how he sits an' listens when they ring.
I don't know. Things is goin' queer to-day. Mrs. Fielitz sent for him to come over. Horseradish seed is what she said she wanted. An' then she goes an' leaves for the city.
[Exit, shaking his head.
They been stalkin' about since four o'clock in the mornin'. Up an' down they went with their bull's-eye lantern. I don't believe they went to bed at all.
Well, if Fielitz has gone to buy a clock you can't expect him to eat or drink or sleep.
[Behind the fence.] Gustav!
The boy is coming now, running along.
That's right. Rauchhaupt! Here's Gustav!
GUSTAV comes prancing up, highly excited, gesticulating violently. He points in the direction from which he has come.
Is that there a war dance you're tryin' to perform? Looks like the cannibals' goin's on. I believe that brat feeds on human flesh.
Hurry now an' run to your father.
Go on now!
Get along with your horse-radish.
GUSTAV gesticulating, puts his hollow hand to his mouth and toots in imitation of a trumpet. Laughter.
Where's the fire, you little firebrand?
Ede, catch hold o' him!
All right. [He tries to creep up to GUSTAV. The latter observes this, gives a loud toot and, still tooting, hurries away, dropping a box of matches as he does so.] Hallo!
What's that?
Just what I need.
What?
Safetys! A whole box full.
MRS. SCHULZE comes rushing down the stairs.
Mr. Langheinrich!
Well, what?
Mr. Langheinrich!
Here I is!
It's … it's … it's … over at …
Anything about the missis?
No, at Fielitzes'.
Is that so? Nothin' about my wife? Well, then,—[he shakes her]—just stop to get your breath. Things is as they is. I'm prepared for anythin'—life an' death. I gotta stand it.
The engine!
What kind o' talk is that? Anythin' wrong with you?
No; it's burnin'!
Go an' blow it out then!—Where is it burnin'!
At the Fielitzes'!
Good Lord! That ain't possible!
[He drops the iron file and some nails which he has been holding.
Where's the fire?
At Fielitzes'; the flame is comin' out o' the skylight.
[Has stepped forward.] Confound it all, but it's smoky! Come here! You can see it well from here.
[Also stares in the direction of the fire. His expression shows that a complete understanding of the situation has come to him, which he expresses by a conscious whistling.] There ain't no words for this; I just gotta whistle.
Ede! Run over to Scheibler's! Run! Get the horses for the engine! That smoke's comin' up thick over the gable.
[He rushes into the smithy, throws his apron aside, puts on a fireman's helmet, belt, etc.
An' nobody at home there, goodness gracious!
That's the lucky part of it, after all.
The roaring of the fire alarm trumpet is heard.
You hear, Doctor? They're tootin' already!
[Reappears in his fireman's uniform.] You get out o' the way here, old lady. Go an' attend to things upstairs. Nothin' to be done here with a syringe. You go up to my wife. Hold on! We gotta have the key to the engine house. The devil!
MRS. SCHULZE withdraws into the house. RAUCHHAUPT'S head reappears on the other side of the fence.
My, but there's a smell o' burnin' in the air.
Sure it smells that way. There's a fire at the Fielitzes'.
The devil! I didn't know nothin' about that!
That's all right, old man. Wasn't you a constable onct?
[He rushes away.
A fourteen-year-old boy comes madly hurrying up.
[To DR. BOXER.] Master! The key to the engine house! They can't get in to the engine.
I'm not the fireman! Just keep cool!
They wants you to come to the engine right off.
You didn't hear what I told you.
There's a fire!
I know that. The engine master has left. He's reached the engine long ago.
There's a fire. They wants you to come down to the engine!
[He runs away.
RAUCHHAUPT appears at the gate. Two LITTLE GIRLS cling to his rags.
I'm used to that! It don't excite me a bit! Mieze! Lottie! You c'n come an' see somethin'.—I seen hundreds an' hundreds o' fires,
[Takes off the leathern apron.] It's a very sad thing for those people, though!
Everythin' is sad in this here world. It's all a question o' how you looks at it! The same thing that's sad c'n be mighty cheerin'. Now there's me: I raises pineapples, an' my hothouse wall … it's right up against Fielitzes' back wall. Now I won't have to keep no fire goin' for three days.
A somewhat OLDER GIRL also comes out through the gate and nestles close up to the others. MRS. SCHULZE leans out from the window in the gable.
[Addressing someone in the room behind her.] Missis, you c'n be reel quiet! The wind's blowin' from the other side.
[She disappears.
Did you see that there old witch? She always knows where the wind comes from.—I retired from all that, yessir! I didn't want to be a old bloodhound right along. I don't mix in them things no more. But that woman—she could be a keen one. [A fireman, blowing his horn very excitedly, walks by.] Go it easy, August! Patience! Look out, or your breeches will bust!
[Enraged.] Aw, shut up! Go an' hide yourself in the holes you're always diggin.
[Exit.
A FOURTH and a FIFTH GIRL, aged nine and ten years respectively, join the old man.
[Laughing.] That's quite a fierce fellow.
Gussie, Nelly, gimme your hand.—That's all nothin' but hurry. That feller don't know what's goin' on in this world. He's blowin' the trumpet of Jericho, I'm thinkin', or maybe even the trump o' Judgment Day!—
I don't think I quite take your meaning, Mr. Rauchhaupt.
Maybe Mrs. Wolff was only tryin' to scorch roaches. All right. Maybe, for all I care, 'twas somethin' else. But if Mrs. Wolff ever putsherhand to somethin'—there ain't very much left.
What do you mean by that?
Oh, I was just thinkin'.
[He withdraws, together with the children.
The court-room of JUSTICE VON WEHRHAHN. A large, white-washed room level with the ground. The main door is in the left wall. Along the wall to the right is the large official table covered with books, documents, etc. Behind it stands the chair of the justice. By the middle window, small table and chair for the clerk of the court. In the foreground, right, a book case of soft wood, and on the left wall, shelves for documents and records. A small door in the background. Several chairs.
GLASENAPP sits at his small table. The JUSTICE'S chair is unoccupied.
In front of the official table DR. BOXER, LANGHEINRICH in his uniform of a captain of the fire brigade, EDE and THREE FIREMEN are waiting. They are engaged in a rather excited conversation. All are red with heat, stained with mud, wet and sooty.
MRS. SCHULZE, somewhat pale, is resting in a chair and waiting likewise. She is in a very thoughtful mood. Repeatedly she takes off her headkerchief and puts it on again and arranges her grey hair.
The action takes place on the same day as that of the first act, five hours later.
The conversation suddenly ceases.
JUSTICE VON WEHRHAHN enters betraying a high degree of official zeal. He covers his left eye with his left hand as though in pain, sits down behind the table, takes his hand from his eye, which twitches painfully, and begins.
Well, what's the result of this wretched mess?
[Noticeably stimulated by exertion, whiskey and beer.] I've come to announce, Baron, that the whole business is burned down.
[Throwing down on the table an object which he has brought with him. It is seen to be a photograph in a frame of deer feet.] That's because you're all only half awake! You're all made that way. Yon drowse around and do nothing. We're not three miles distant from Berlin; our entire activity should have a different air!
[Softly to DR. BOXER.] The fire did have air enough, eh?
Your honour….
Never mind. I know all about it.
[He pulls out his handkerchief, wipes the perspiration from his forehead and taps his eye.
Your honour, I'd like to lay claim, humbly, to some credit … We did our part honestly. We was on the spot with the engine.
Then get a better engine!
But if you can't get no water!
You managed to get plenty of beer.
—————-?
Puttin' out a fire makes you thirsty!
That seems undoubtedly to have been the case.—Glasenapp, will you come and look? Something flew into my eye. [GLASENAPP jumps up and investigates.] I had just examined Mrs. Schulze when the north gable caved in. It must have been a spark or something like that.—By the way, hasn't Mrs. Schulze been here?
Here I is.
Yes, Baron.
WEHRHAHN motions him away. GLASENAPP steps back and goes over to his table.
To proceed, then. It has come to my ears … Mrs. Schulze has informed me, that a certain incident took place in front of your smithy.—It seems that you saw that worthless boy immediately before the flame rose and that he had a box of matches. How is it now with this story of the matches? Tell us what you know!
He had a box o' matches. That's so.
And he let it fall.
An' I picked it up. Yessir.
You?
Me. Same person you see. Here's the box. All the matches ain't there no more 'cause I smoked several times …
[He places the box of matches on the official table.]
[Unpleasantly impressed by EDE'S manner, takes up the box and fixes his eyes upon him.] You helped along vigorously, I suppose?
You bet! 'Tain't no fun otherwise.
I meant especially in the consumption of beer.
That's what I thought you meant. Yessir!
You seem to be in a very playful mood.
Merry an' larky—that's my motto, your honour!
Delighted to hear that, I must say.—Look here, are you Dr. Boxer?
Quite right. Dr. Boxer.
So you are he! Aha! I would hardly have recognised you. Your mother still has the little notion shop here…. Your father was a—er—tradesman—?
[Voluntarily misunderstanding him.] Yes, my father was in the reserve forces and was decorated with the Iron Cross in 1870.
Ah, yes. Of course. I recall.—Your mother came running to my office recently and brought along several stones. Her kitchen windows had been broken, I believe. Mischievous boys, no doubt. I investigated, of course. I'm told you want to settle down here?—There's a very good physician here now—formerly of the army staff—very capable.
I don't doubt that for a moment.
To be quite frank—as things are now—I wonder whether this is an appropriate territory for you?
I can take some time to discover that.
Naturally. So can we. So continue, please.—What was it that you observed, Dr. Boxer?
The incident of the matches certainly.
The incident of the horn blowing and of the matches.
Certainly.
Where were you when all this took place?
I stood in front of Langheinrich's smithy.
Did you have any particular business there?—You needn't get impatient at all. I understand that it doesn't concern me at present. Your sympathetic affinity for the working classes is known to us from of old.—The boy will be arrested now. I imagine that Constable Tschache has captured him. At all events—is on his trail. He was seen, in Rahnsdorf too. Please call in Sadowa!
[GLASENAPP withdraws by the rear door.
Am I dismissed now, your honour?
Extremely sorry; no. Kindly wait.—Mrs. Schulze, where is your nephew keeping himself today? I haven't seen him all day long. Does any one know where Constable Schulze is?
[Softly.] He might send out a warrant after him.
Doesn't any one know where Constable Schulze is?—Has any one interviewed Mrs. Fielitz? Or hasn't she returned from Berlin yet?—I want somebody to go to Councillor Reinberg.—[To GLASENAPP, who is just returning.] Mr. Schmarowski, Mrs. Fielitz's son-in-law, is there submitting his building-plans. The news should be broken to him gently.
[Softly to BOXER and LANGHEINRICH.] Yes, gently, so he don't stumble over the church steeple.
[DR. BOXER and LANGHEINRICH restrain their laughter with difficulty.]
[Observing this.] Does that strike you as very amusing?—I don't know what other reason you should have to laugh, Langheinrich. When people are hardworking and ambitious and a fright like this comes to them—a visitation from God—we might properly say: God protect us from such things! I see nothing to laugh at.—Did you have the impression … did the boy seem to you … I mean, in reference to this affair—as if things were not quite right with him?
[Softly to BOXER and LANGHEINRICH.] We knows where he ain't quite right!
Did he arouse your suspicion? Yes or no? Or did the thought actually occur to you that he might have started the fire?
No. I have become too much of a stranger here. The conditions seem to overwhelm me.
In what respect?
[With assumed seriousness.] I have returned from a very narrow life. Out on the ocean one becomes accustomed to a certain narrowness of outlook. And so, as I said, I hardly feel capable of any comment for the present and must ask for the necessary consideration.
We're not discussing conditions. The thing that lies before us is a concrete case. For instance: whether the boy tootled or not—what has that to do with narrowness or breadth of outlook?
Quite right. I haven't been able to get a general view yet. I can't so suddenly find my way again. I feel, naturally, the importance, the seriousness of the conditions here at home and that makes me feel hesitant.
He did tootle this way, through his hand, didn't he? You heard that too, didn't you, Langheinrich?
Sure, he did it right out loud.
When a feller tootles so tootin'ly that you c'n rightly say he's tootlin', then you c'n hear that there tootlin' tootin'ly.
[To LANGHEINRICH.] Did you observe anything else that aroused your suspicions? I mean, while you were extinguishing the fire? Were there any indications that pointed in another direction, or that might, at least, point in another direction? [LANGHEINRICH thinks for a moment, then shakes his head.] You didn't get inside of the house, did you?
I just barely glanced into the room. Then the ceiling came crashin' down.A hair's breadth sooner an' I'd ha' been smothered.
The fire was started from without. Constable Tschache is quite right in that supposition. Probably from behind where the goatshed is. That would also be in agreement with your evidence, Mrs. Schulze! You saw him creep around the house. Right above the goatshed there is a window from which, as a rule, straw was sticking out. I myself made that observation. And this window gives on Rauchhaupt's garden. This window tempted the boy. It tempted him because he had it daily before his eyes. So he simply climbed on the roof of the shed and from there reached the sky-light. Very pleasant neighbour to have—I must say!—Who's that crossing the street and howling so?
[Looks through the window.] Shoemaker Fielitz and his wife.
What? Is that Mrs. Fielitz who comes howling so? It's enough to melt the heart of a stone.
MRS. FIELITZ, whose loud, convulsive weeping has been audible before she appeared, enters, leaning upon the SEXTON and followed by HER HUSBAND, who carries a large, new clock carefully in his arms. FIELITZ and HIS WIFE are both in their Sunday clothes.
Well, heavens and earth, Mrs. Fielitz! Trust in the Lord! Our trust in the Lord—that's the main thing! This isn't a killing matter.—Get a drink of brandy, Nickel! Go over and ask my wife for it. Mrs. Fielitz has got to be brought to her senses first.—Do me a favour, Mrs. Fielitz, and stop your outburst of tears. I can feel for you, when it comes to that. Quite a severe blow of fate. Have any valuables been destroyed? [MRS. FIELITZ weeps more violently.] Mrs. Fielitz! Mrs. Fielitz! Listen to me! Please listen to what I say to you! Kindly don't lose your reason! D'you understand? Don't lose your head! You're generally a sensible woman.—Well, if you won't, you won't.—[NICKEL, who has been gone for a moment, returns with a brandy bottle and a small glass.]—Give her the brandy; quick,—I'll address myself to you, Fielitz. I see that you're quite collected, at least. That's the way a man ought to be, you understand. In any situation—be that what it may. So, Fielitz, you give me some information! I'll put the same question to you first: Have any valuables been destroyed?
[He is only partially successful in restraining the convulsive sobs that attack him while he speaks.] Yes. Six bills … banknotes!
Well, I'll be blessed! Is that true? And, of course, you don't even know 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!
I … aw … who'd ha' thought o' such a thing, your honour?
Why don't you lay that clock down?
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.
[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 onouraccount. Them's very different stories—them is. An' I guess Mr. von Wehrhahn knows somethin' about that!
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.
Look here, you there! What's that you did? You stood behind Fielitz and shook your fist over his head.
Maybe I'm weak in the chest, but I don't rightly know.
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.
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!
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.
[Audibly.] Has anybody maybe got a bit o' sponge in his pocket, 'cause, you see, stockin's don't absorb so much water.
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.
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.
All that don't concern me, your honour. I don't mix in politics.
Oh, is that so? We can afford to wait and see.
If a feller goes an' does his work all right …
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.
Where have you been all day?
[Utterly disconcerted for some moments. Then:] We nabbed the boy, your honour.
Is that so? Who did it?
Me and Tschache.
Where?
Right near here; by the church.
He always sits there and listens to the bells.
Why didn't you tell us that before? Did he try to escape? Did he run from you?
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, whomTSCHACHE is leading in.Members of the crowd press forward._
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.
I'm takin' care of a sick person, your honour. Maybe I might be able to get off now?
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.
[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.
[Softly.] Where did you get that from?
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 …
Private conversation is not permitted here.
[Tugs at LANGHEINRICH'S sleeve and asks softly:] Didn't you meet Leontine to-day? Where was it?
[With a triumphant glance at SCHULZE.] Over in Woltersdorf.
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!
[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.
[Also embarrassed.] What does that mean?
I really don't know.
That's Gustav's art, your honour. He's famous for imitatin' animals' voices.
Is that so? And what animal was this supposed to be?
I guess a lion, all right.—
[General laughter.
WEHRHAHN shrugs his shoulders, laughs jeeringly and goes to his seat. Silence. Then renewed laughter.
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.
[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.
[As before.] You did see Leontine this morning?
SCHULZE nods again and turns away.
[Repeating the action.] An' where did you meet her, Constable?
[Almost without moving his lips.] It was over beyond Woltersdorf.
[To LANGHEINRICH.] What's the matter here? What's all this here about?
[Observes RAUCHHAUPT.] You are a retired Prussian constable?
[Having failed to hear the question.] Say, Schulze, what's all this for?
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.
I don't know what you been preachin'! You ol' mush head! Go on preachin'!
I begs to have it recorded that Rauchhaupt insulted me officially.
What? 'Cause you're such a old idjit? That's the reason why I insults you officially….
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!
Here I is, your honour, an' I humbly announces …
That you are recalcitrant and disorderly! You are trying to get into trouble! How long have you been retired?
Eleven years.
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!
That's 'cause I am … You'll kindly excuse …
Nothing is excused here! D'you understand? You actually smell! You contaminate the air!
'Tain't nothin' but the smell o' earth …
Horse dung!
That must be from them pineapples.—
[Laughter.