[BELLMAUS _and_ SCHMOCK _leave_.]
BOLZ. We might as well separate, too.
KaMPE. I"ll go and see how people feel. If I need you I"ll look you up.
BOLZ. I had better not show myself much. I"ll stay around here.
[_Exit_ KaMPE.]
Alone at last!
[_Goes to centre door_.]
There stands the Colonel, closely surrounded. It is she! She is here, and I have to lie in hiding like a fox under the leaves.--But she has falcon eyes,--perhaps--the throng disperses--she is walking through the hall arm-in-arm with Ida--(_Excitedly_.) They are drawing nearer!
(_Irritably_.) Oh, bother! There is Korb rushing toward me! And just now!
_Enter_ KORB.
KORB. Mr. Conrad! I can"t believe my eyes! You here, at this fete!
BOLZ (_hastily_). Hush, old chap! I"m not here without a reason. I can trust you--you"re one of us, you know.
KORB. Body and soul. Through all the talking and fiddling I"ve kept saying to myself, "Long live the _Union!"_ Here she is!
[_Shows him a paper in his pocket_.]
BOLZ. Good, Korb, you can do me a great favor. In a corner of the refreshment room Bellmaus is sitting with a stranger. He is to pump the stranger, but cannot stand much himself and is likely to say things he shouldn"t. You"ll do the party a great service if you will hurry in and drink punch so as to keep Bellmaus up to the mark. You have a strong head--I know it from of old.
KORB (_hastily_). I go! You are as full of tricks as ever, I see. You may rely on me. The stranger shall succ.u.mb, and the _Union_ shall triumph.
[_Exit quickly. The music ceases_.]
BOLZ. Poor Schmock! [_At the door_.]
Ah, they are still walking through the hall. Ida is being spoken to, she stops, Adelaide goes on--(_Excitedly_.) she"s coming, she"s coming alone!
ADELAIDE (_makes a motion as though to pa.s.s the door, but suddenly enters_. BOLZ _bows_). Conrad! My dear doctor!
[_Holds out her hand_. BOLZ _bends low over it_.]
ADELAIDE (_in joyous emotion_). I knew you at once from a distance.
Let me see your faithful face. Yes, it has changed but little--a scar, browner, and a small line about the mouth. I hope it is from laughing.
BOLZ. If at this moment I feel like anything but laughing it is only a pa.s.sing malignity of soul. I see myself double, like a melancholy Highlander. In your presence my long happy childhood pa.s.ses bodily before my eyes. All the joy and pain it brought me I feel as vividly again as though I were still the boy who went into the wood for you in search of wild adventures and caught robin-red-b.r.e.a.s.t.s. And yet the fine creature I see before me is so different from my playmate that I realize I am only dreaming a beautiful dream. Your eyes shine as kindly as ever, but--(_Bowing_.) I have scarcely the right still to think of old dreams.
ADELAIDE. Possibly I, too, am not so changed as you think; and changed though we both be, we have remained good friends, have we not?
BOLZ. Rather than give up one iota of my claim to your regard, I would write and print and try to sell malicious articles against myself.
ADELAIDE. And yet you have been too proud all this time even to come and see your friend in town. Why have you broken with the Colonel?
BOLZ. I have not broken with him. On the contrary, I have a very estimable position in his house--one that I can best keep by going there as seldom as possible. The Colonel, and occasionally Miss Ida, too, like to a.s.suage their anger against Oldendorf and the newspaper by regarding me as the evil one with horns and hoofs. A relationship so tender must be handled with care--a devil must not cheapen himself by appearing every day.
ADELAIDE. Well, I hope you will now abandon this lofty viewpoint. I am spending the winter in town, and I hope that for love of your boyhood"s friend you will call on my friends as a denizen of this world.
BOLZ. In any role you apportion me.
ADELAIDE. Even in that of a peace-envoy between the Colonel and Oldendorf?
BOLZ. If peace be at the cost of Oldendorf"s withdrawal, then no.
Otherwise I am ready to serve you in all good works.
ADELAIDE. But I fear that this is the only price at which peace can be purchased. You see, Mr. Conrad, we too have become opponents.
BOLZ. To do anything against your wishes is horrible to me, son of perdition though I be. So my saint wills and commands that Oldendorf do not become member of Parliament?
ADELAIDE. I will it and command it, Mr. Devil!
BOLZ. It is hard. Up in your heaven you have so many gentlemen to bestow on Miss Ida; why must you carry off a poor devil"s one and only soul, the professor?
ADELAIDE. It is just the professor I want, and you must let me have him.
BOLZ. I am in despair. I would tear my hair were the place not so unsuitable. I dread your anger. The thought makes me tremble that you might not like this election.
ADELAIDE. Well, try to stop the election, then.
BOLZ. That I cannot do. But so soon as it is over I am fated to mourn and grow melancholy over your anger. I shall withdraw from the world--far, far to the North Pole. There I shall end my days sadly, playing dominoes with polar bears, or spreading the elements of journalistic training among the seals. That will be easier to endure than the scathing glance of your eyes.
ADELAIDE (_laughing_). Yes, that"s the way you always were. You made every possible promise and acted exactly as you pleased. But before starting for the North Pole, perhaps you will make one more effort to reconcile me here.
[KaMPE _is seen at the door._]
Hush!--I shall look forward to your visit. Farewell, my re-found friend!
[_EXIT_.]
BOLZ. And thus my good angel turns her back to me in anger! And now, politics, thou witch, I am irretrievably in thy power!
[_Exit quickly through centre door._]
_Enter_ PIEPENBRINK, MRS. PIEPENBRINK, BERTHA _escorted by_ FRITZ KLEINMICHEL, _and_ KLEINMICHEL _through centre door. Quadrille behind the scenes._
PIEPENBRINK. Thank Heaven, we are out of this crowd!
MRS. PIEPENBRINK. It is very hot.
KLEINMICHEL. And the music is too loud. There are too many trumpets and I hate trumpets.