I have already.
MARIE.
Well?
MAX.
[_Shrugging his shoulders_.] As long as she lives, not a penny.
MARIE.
Then there"s only one person who can help us.
MAX.
Your father?
MARIE.
No. For Heaven"s sake, don"t let him hear of it. He might forbid you the house.
MAX.
What has he against me?
MARIE.
You know how he has been since our misfortune. He feels that there is a blot to be wiped out; and especially now, when the whole town echoes with music,--when everything recalls Magda.
MAX.
What if she should come back, some day?
MARIE.
After twelve years? She will never come.
[_Weeps_.]
MAX.
Marie!
MARIE.
You"re right, you"re right. I will put it away from me.
MAX.
But who is the one person who can help us?
MARIE.
Why, the pastor!
MAX.
Yes, yes, he might.
MARIE.
He can do everything. He stirs your very heart--as if-- And then he seems like a kind of relation. He should have been my brother-in-law.
MAX.
Yes, but she wouldn"t have it so.
MARIE.
Don"t speak angrily, Max. She must have made atonement. [_A ring_.] Oh, perhaps this is he.
MAX.
No, no, I forgot to tell you. Councillor von Keller asked me to bring him here to-day.
MARIE.
What does he want?
MAX.
He wants to interest himself in the missions--no, it"s in our home work particularly, I think. I don"t know-- Well, at any rate he wants to come to the committee meeting tomorrow.
MARIE.
I"ll call father and mother. [_Enter_ Theresa _with a card_.] Show him in. [_Exit_ Theresa.] Entertain him until I come back. [_Gives him her hand_.] And we"ll talk again about the pastor some other time?
MAX.
In spite of the proprieties?
MARIE.
Oh, Max, I"ve been too forward! Haven"t I?
MAX.
Marie!
MARIE.