Of course. Beautiful villas interest me very much. And they tell me his is ravishing. If you were only to see people who....
JULIAN
Hadn"t killed anybody....
IRENE
Really, we show him too much honor in talking so long about him. That ends it.--Well, Julian? How goes it? Why haven"t you written me oftener? Is it possible you didn"t dare?
JULIAN
Dare...?
IRENE
Were you forbidden, I mean?
JULIAN
I see.--n.o.body can forbid me anything.
IRENE
Honestly? You live all by yourself?
JULIAN
Yes.
IRENE
I"m delighted. I can"t help it, Julian, but I am delighted. Although it"s sheer nonsense. This day, or the next, there"ll be something new going on.
JULIAN
Those days are past.
IRENE
If it were only true!--Can I have a cup of tea?
JULIAN
Certainly. The samovar is right there.
IRENE
Where?--Oh, over there. And the tea?--Oh, I know! (_She opens a small cupboard and brings out what she needs; during the next few minutes she is busy preparing the tea_)
JULIAN
So you are really going to stay here only a couple of days more?
IRENE
Of course. I have done all my ordering. You understand, in my sister"s house out there one doesn"t need to dress up.
JULIAN
Tell me about it. How do you like it out there?
IRENE
Splendidly. Oh, it"s bliss merely to hear nothing more about the theater.
JULIAN
And yet you"ll return to it sometime.
IRENE
That"s where you are completely mistaken. Why should I? You must remember that I have now reached the goal of all my desires: fresh air, and woods right by; horseback riding across meadows and fields; early morning seated in the big park, dressed in my kimono, and n.o.body daring to intrude. To put it plainly: no people, no manager, no public, no colleagues, no playwrights--though, of course, all are not as arrogant as your precious Sala.--Well, all this I have attained at last. I live in the country. I have a country house--almost a little palace, you might say. I have a park, and a horse, and a kimono--to use as much as I please. It isn"t all mine, I admit--except the kimono, of course--but what does that matter? In the bargain, I live with the best people one could hope to find in this world. For my brother-in-law is, if possible, a finer fellow than Lora herself even.
JULIAN
Wasn"t he rather making up to you once?
IRENE
I should say he was! He wanted to marry me at any cost. Of course!--It was always in me that they were at first--I mean that they always _have been_ in love with me. But as a rule the clever ones have gone over to Lora. In fact, I have always felt a little distrustful toward you because you never fell in love with Lora. And how much she is ahead of me--well, _you_ know, and it"s no use talking of it. What all don"t I owe to Lora!... If it hadn"t been for her...!--Well, it"s with them I have been living the last half year.
JULIAN
The question is only how long you are going to stand it.
IRENE
How long...? But, Julian, I must ask you what there could be to make me leave such a paradise and return to the mora.s.s where I (_in a lowered voice_) spent twenty-five years of my life. What could I possibly expect out of the theater anyhow? I am not made for elderly parts. The heroic mother, the shrewish dame and the funny old woman are equally little to my liking. I intend to die as "the young lady from the castle"--as an old maid, you might say--and if everything goes right, I shall appear to the grandchildren of my sister some hundred years from now as the Lady in White. In a word, I have the finest kind of a life ahead of me.--Why are you laughing?
JULIAN
It pleases me to see you so jolly again--so youthful.
IRENE
It"s the country air, Julian. You should try it yourself for a good long while. It"s glorious! In fact, I think I have missed my true calling. I"m sure the good Lord meant me for a milkmaid or farm girl of some kind. Or perhaps for a young shepherd. I have always looked particularly well in pants.--There now. Do you want me to pour a cup for you at once? (_She pours the tea_) Have you nothing to go with it?
JULIAN