PIEPENBRINK. Ah, indeed! You don"t belong to the party, I suppose, and on that account do not like it.
BOLZ. It"s not that! But when I reflect that all these people have been invited, not really to heartily enjoy themselves, but in order that they shall presently give their votes to this or that gentleman, it cools my ardor.
PIEPENBRINK. Oh, it can hardly be meant just that way. Something could be said on the other side--don"t you think so, comrade?
KLEINMICHEL. I trust no one will be asked to sign any agreement here.
BOLZ. Perhaps not. I have no vote to cast and I am proud to be in a company where nothing else is thought of but enjoying oneself with one"s neighbor and paying attention to the queens of society--to charming women! Touch gla.s.ses, gentlemen, to the health of the ladies, of the two who adorn our circle. [_All touch gla.s.ses_.]
PIEPENBRINK. Come here, Lottie, your health is being drunk.
BOLZ. Young lady, allow a stranger to drink to your future prosperity.
PIEPENBRINK. What else do you suppose they are going to do in there?
FRITZ KLEINMICHEL. I hear that at supper there are to be speeches, and the candidate for election, Colonel Berg, is to be introduced.
PIEPENBRINK. A very estimable gentleman.
KLEINMICHEL. Yes, it is a good choice the gentlemen on the committee have made.
ADELAIDE, _who has been visible in the rear, now saunters in_.
ADELAIDE. He sitting here? What sort of a company is that?
KaMPE. People say that Professor Oldendorf has a good chance of election. Many are said to be going to vote for him.
PIEPENBRINK. I have nothing to say against him, only to my mind he is too young.
SENDEN _is seen in the rear, later_ BLUMENBERG _and guests_.
SENDEN. You here, Miss Runeck?
ADELAIDE. I"m amusing myself with watching those queer people. They act as though the rest of the company were non-existent.
SENDEN. What do I see? There sits the _Union_ itself and next to one of the most important personages of the fete!
[_The music ceases_.]
BOLZ (_who has meanwhile been conversing with_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK _but has listened attentively--to_ MR. PIEPENBRINK). There, you see the gentlemen cannot desist from talking politics after all. (_To_ PIEPENBRINK.) Did you not mention Professor Oldendorf?
PIEPENBRINK. Yes, my jolly Doctor, just casually.
BOLZ. When you talk of him I heartily pray you to say good things about him; for he is the best, the n.o.blest man I know.
PIEPENBRINK. Indeed? You know him?
KLEINMICHEL. Are you possibly a friend of his!
BOLZ. More than that. Were the professor to say to me today: "Bolz, it will help me to have you jump into the water," I should have to jump in, unpleasant as it would be to me just at this moment to drown in water.
PIEPENBRINK. Oho! That is strong!
BOLZ. In this company I have no right to speak of candidates for election. But if I did have a member to elect he should be the one--he, first of all.
PIEPENBRINK. But you are very much prejudiced in the man"s favor.
BOLZ. His political views do not concern me here at all. But what do I demand of a member? That he be a man; that he have a warm heart and a sure judgment, and that he know unwaveringly and unquestionably what is good and right; furthermore, that he have the strength to do what he knows to be right without delay, without hesitation.
PIEPENBRINK. Bravo!
KLEINMICHEL. But the Colonel, too, is said to be that kind of a man.
BOLZ. Possibly he is, I do not know; but of Oldendorf I know it. I looked straight into his heart on the occasion of an unpleasant experience I went through. I was once on the point of burning to powder when he was kind enough to prevent it. Him I have to thank for sitting here. He saved my life.
SENDEN. He lies abominably!
[_Starts forward_.]
ADELAIDE (_holding him back_). Be still! I believe there is some truth to the story.
PIEPENBRINK. Well now, it was very fine of him to save your life; but that kind of thing often happens.
MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Do tell us about it, Doctor!
BOLZ. The little affair is like a hundred others and would not interest me at all, had I not been through it myself. Picture to yourself an old house. I am a student living on the third floor. In the house opposite me lives a young scholar; we do not know each other. At dead of night I am awakened by a great noise and a strange crackling under me. If it were mice, they must have been having a torchlight procession for the room was brilliantly illuminated. I rush to the window, the bright flame from the story under me leaps up to where I stand. My window-panes burst about my head, and a vile cloud of smoke rushes in on me. There being no great pleasure under the circ.u.mstances in leaning out of the window, I rush to the door and throw it open. The stairs, too, cannot resist the mean impulse peculiar to old wood, they are all ablaze. Up three flights of stairs and no exit! I gave myself up for lost. Half unconscious I hurried back to the window. I heard the cries from the street, "A man! a man!
This way with the ladder!" A ladder was set up. In an instant it began to smoke and to burn like tinder. It was dragged away. Then streams of water from all the engines hissed in the flames beneath me. Distinctly I could hear each separate stream striking the glowing wall. A fresh ladder was put up; below there was deathly silence and you can imagine that I, too, had no desire to make much of a commotion in my fiery furnace. "It can"t be done," cried the people below. Then a full, rich voice rang out: "Raise the ladder higher!" Do you know, I felt instantly that this was the voice of my rescuer. "Hurry!" cried those below. Then a fresh cloud of vapor penetrated the room. I had had my share of the thick smoke, and lay prostrate on the ground by the window.
MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Poor Doctor Bolz!
PIEPENBRINK (_eagerly_). Go on!
[SENDEN _starts forward_.]
ADELAIDE (_holding him back_). Please, let him finish, the story is true!
BOLZ. Then a man"s hand seizes my neck. A rope is wound round me under the arms, and a strong wrist raises me from the ground. A moment later I was on the ladder, half dragged, half carried; with shirt aflame, and unconscious, I reached the pavement.--I awoke in the room of the young scholar. Save for a few slight burns, I had brought nothing with me over into the new apartment; all my belongings were burned. The stranger nursed me and cared for me like a brother. Not until I was able to go out again did I learn that this scholar was the same man who had paid his visit to me that night on the ladder. You see the man has his heart in the right spot, and that"s why I wish him now to become member of Parliament, and why I could do for him what I would not do for myself; for him I could electioneer, intrigue, or make fools of honest people. That man is Professor Oldendorf.
PIEPENBRINK. Well, he"s a tremendously fine man! [_Rising_.] Here"s to the health of Professor Oldendorf! [_All rise and touch gla.s.ses_.]
BOLZ (_bowing pleasantly to all--to_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK). I see warm sympathy shining in your eyes, dear madam, and I thank you for it. Mr.
Piepenbrink, I ask permission to shake your hand; you are a fine fellow. [_Slaps him on the back and embraces him_.] Give me your hand, Mr. Kleinmichel! [_Embraces him_.] And you, too, Mr. Fritz Kleinmichel! May no child of yours ever sit in the fire, but if he does may there ever be a gallant man at hand to pull him out. Come nearer, I must embrace you, too.
MRS. PIEPENBRINK (_much moved_). Piepenbrink, we have veal-cutlets tomorrow. What do you think? [_Converses with him in a low tone_.]
ADELAIDE. His spirits are running away with him!