Oh, I was not speaking for myself, not at all. But just think, if it were to come out, what the town and your father--
MAGDA.
Poor old man! His peace is destroyed, at any rate.
VON KELLER.
And think! the more brilliantly you are placed now, the more certain is your ruin.
MAGDA.
[_Madly_.] And if I wish for ruin! If I--
VON KELLER.
For Heaven"s sake, hush! some one"s coming.
MAGDA.
[_Springing up_.] Let them come! Let them all come! I don"t care, I don"t care! To their faces I"ll say what I think of you,--of you and your respectable society. Why should I be worse than you, that I must prolong my existence among you by a lie! Why should this gold upon my body, and the l.u.s.tre which surrounds my name, only increase my infamy?
Have I not worked early and late for ten long years? Have I not woven this dress with sleepless nights? Have I not built up my career step by step, like thousands of my kind? Why should I blush before any one? I am myself, and through myself I have become what I am.
VON KELLER.
Good! You may stand there proudly, but you might at least consider--
MAGDA.
Whom? [_As he is silent_.] Whom? The pillar! Ha, ha! The pillar begins to totter! Be easy, my dear friend. I am not revengeful. But when I look at you in all your cowardly dignity--unwilling to take upon you the slightest consequence of your doings, and contrast you with myself, who sank through your love to be a pariah and an outcast-- Ah, I"m ashamed of you. Pah!
VON KELLER.
For Heaven"s sake! Your father! If he should see you like this!
MAGDA.
[_In agony_.] My father! [_Escapes through the door of the dining-room, with her handkerchief to her face_.]
_Enter_ Schwartze, _happy and excited, through the hall-door_.
SCHWARTZE.
Ah, my dear Councillor--was that my daughter who just disappeared?
VON KELLER.
[_In great embarra.s.sment_.] Yes, it was--
SCHWARTZE.
Why should she run away from me? Magda!
VON KELLER.
[_Trying to block his path_.] Had you not better-- The young lady wished to be alone for a little!
SCHWARTZE.
Now? Why? When one has visitors, one does not-- Why should she--
VON KELLER.
She was a little--agitated.
SCHWARTZE.
Agitated?
VON KELLER.
Yes; that"s all.
SCHWARTZE.
Who has been here?
VON KELLER.
No one. At least, as far as I know.
SCHWARTZE.
Then, what agitating things could you two have to talk about?
VON KELLER.
Nothing of importance,--nothing at all, I a.s.sure you.
SCHWARTZE.
What makes you look so, then? You can scarcely stand.
VON KELLER.
I? Oh, you"re mistaken, you"re mistaken.
SCHWARTZE.