ADELAIDE (_bowing_).
How do you do, gentlemen! [_To the staff_.] Am I right in a.s.suming that these gentlemen have hitherto been connected with editing the paper?
BELLMAUS (_eagerly_).
Yes, Miss Runeck! Mr. Kampe for leading articles, Mr. Korner for the French and English correspondence, and I for theatre, music, fine arts, and miscellaneous.
ADELAIDE.
I shall be much pleased if your principles will let you continue devoting your talents to my newspaper. [_The three members of the staff bow_.]
BELLMAUS (_laying his hand on his heart_).
Miss Runeck, under your editorship I"ll go to the ends of the world!
ADELAIDE (_smiling and politely_).
Ah, no, merely into that room.
[_Points to the door on the right_.]
I need half an hour to collect my thoughts for my new activities.
BELLMAUS (_while departing_).
That"s the best thing I ever heard!
[BELLMAUS, KaMPE, KoRNER _leave_.]
ADELAIDE.
Professor, you resigned the management of the paper with a readiness which delights me. (_Pointedly_.) I wish to edit the _Union_ in my own fashion.
[_Seizes his hand and leads him to the_ COLONEL.]
Colonel, he is no longer editor; we have outwitted him; you have your satisfaction.
COLONEL (_holding out his arms to him_).
Come, Oldendorf! For what happened I have been sorry since the moment we parted.
OLDENDORF.
My honored friend!
ADELAIDE (_pointing to the door on the left_).
There is some one else in there who wants to take part in the reconciliation. It might be Mr. Gabriel Henning.
IDA _appears at the side door_.
IDA.
Edward!
[OLDENDORF _hurries to the door_, IDA _meets him, he embraces her. Both leave on the left. The_ COLONEL _follows_.]
ADELAIDE (_sweetly_).
Before asking you, Mr. von Senden, to interest yourself in the editing of the newspaper, I beg you to read through this correspondence which I received as a contribution to my columns.
SENDEN (_takes a glance at them_).
Miss Runeck, I don"t know whose indiscretion--
ADELAIDE.
Fear none on my part. I am a newspaper proprietor, and (_with, marked emphasis_) shall keep editorial secrets.
[SENDEN _bows_.]
May I ask for the deed, Judge? And will you gentlemen be kind enough to ease the mind of the vendor as to the outcome of the transaction?
[_Mutual bows_. SENDEN _and_ SCHWARZ _leave_.]
ADELAIDE (_after a short pause_).
Now, Mr. Bolz, what am I going to do about you?
BOLZ.
I am prepared for anything. I am surprised at nothing any more. If some one should go straight off and spend a capital of a hundred millions in painting negroes white with oil-colors, or in making Africa four-cornered, I should not let it astonish me. If I wake up tomorrow as an owl with two tufts of feathers for ears and a mouse in my beak, I will say, "All right," and remember that worse things have happened.
ADELAIDE.
What is the matter with you, Conrad? Are you displeased with me?
BOLZ.
With you? You have been generous as ever; only too generous. And it would all have been fine, if only this whole scene had been impossible. That fellow Senden!
ADELAIDE.
We have seen the last of him! Conrad, I"m one of the party!
BOLZ.
Hallelujah! I hear countless angels blowing on their trumpets! I"ll stay with the _Union_!