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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Moral, by Ludwig Thoma
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Moral
+
+Author: Ludwig Thoma
+
+
+Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4963]
+This file was first posted on April 5, 2002
+Last Updated: June 30, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORAL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Franks, Nicole Apostola and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MORAL
+
+
+By Ludwig Thoma
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+Dr. Ludwig Thoma, perhaps better known to his Bavarian countrymen as
+Peter Schlemiehl, was born in Oberammergau on January 21, 1867. After
+graduating from a gymnasium in Munich, he studied at the School of
+Forestry at Aschauffenburg. He did not finish his course there, but
+entered the University at Munich and received his degree as Doctor Juris
+in 1893.
+
+A year later Dr. Thoma began to practice law; but he abandoned that
+pursuit in 1899 to follow a career for which his inclinations and
+talents so happily fitted him.
+
+He had been writing humorous verses for Simplicissimus for several years
+under the pen name of Pete Schlemiehl, with such success that the paper
+almost became identified by that name. These poems were later published
+in book form under the title--Grobheiten.
+
+His prose writings in Bavarian dialect as well as his boyhood
+experiences entitled, Lausbubengeschichten, won a large and warm
+audience. In 1899 he became the editor of Simplicissimus. From then on
+his renown grew. The foremost critics of German letters began to take
+notice of this "Bavarian Aristophanes" and to compare him to Heine and
+the classics.
+
+When Moral and Lottchen's Birthday appeared, while the reviewers shook
+their heads and stated that Dr. Thoma was shocking (so in original)
+they concluded that their author was "casting a long shadow." To-day Dr.
+Thoma is a recognized figure in Germany. Prof. Robert F. Arnold in
+"Das Moderne Drama" (Strassburg, 1908) ranks him next to Hauptmann. His
+writings are numerous. A vein, satirical and humorous, with a conception
+of the pathetic, makes him more than an equal to Mark Twain. In addition
+he is possessed of a message, which he delivers in the Moral.
+
+First produced in 1908 the play soon became a part and parcel of the
+repertoire of the leading theatres in Germany. It was put on for the
+first time in New York, in German, at the Irving Place Theatre in the
+spring of 1914, through the efforts of the late Heinrich Matthias
+and the writer. Mr. Matthias then played the part of Beermann. Mr.
+Christians, the director, repeated the performance a number of times
+that season, each performance meeting with a warm response.
+
+The late Percival Pollard was the first American critic to emphasize the
+importance of Dr. Thoma's work in his excellent resume of contemporary
+German literature: Masks and Minstrels of Modern Germany. He pointed out
+"that no country where hypocrisy or puritanism prevail as factors in
+the social and municipal conduct should be spared the corrective acid of
+this play."
+
+H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan for many years have sung praises of
+the Moral in the Smart Set. But its production on the English speaking
+stage still remains an event eagerly to be awaited. Briefly, the play is
+a polemic against the "men higher up," churchmen, reformers, and social
+hypocrites.
+
+The translation follows the text implicitly. Four different versions
+were made all varying in a degree from the original, and although Dr.
+Thoma wrote to the writer "bin auch damit einverstanden dass Sie in
+der Ubersetzung meines Schauspieles 'Moral' etwaige Aenderungen oder
+Adaptiereungen, die durch die englisch-amerikanischen Verhaltnisse und
+den Geschmack des amerikanischen Theatrepublikums geboten erscheinen, in
+entsprechender Weise vornehmen ..." it was deemed best for purposes
+of publication to try to preserve the original atmosphere without
+an attempt to even transpose such phrases as Gnadige Frau, or Herr
+Kommerzienrat.
+
+CHARLES RECHT.
+
+New York, October, 1916.
+
+
+
+
+PERSONS OF THE PLAY
+
+
+     FRITZ BEERMANN, a wealthy landowner and banker.
+
+     LENA BEERMANN, his wife.
+
+     EFFIE BEERMANN, their daughter.
+
+     KOMMERZIENRAT ADOLPH BOLLAND, capitalist and manufacturer
+
+     CLARA BOLLAND, his wife.
+
+     DR. HAUSER, an ex-judge.
+
+     FRAU LUND, an old lady.
+
+     HANS JACOB DOBLER, a poet.
+
+     FRAULEIN KOCH-PINNEBERG, an artiste.
+
+     PRIVATDOZENT DR. WASNER, a gymnasium professor.
+
+     FREIHERR VON SIMBACH, the Police Commissioner of the Duchy.
+
+     ASSESSOR OSCAR STROEBEL, a police official.
+
+     MADAME NINON DE HAUTEVILLE, a lady of leisure.
+
+     FREIHERR GENERAL BOTHO VON SCHMETTAU, also known as Zurnberg,
+     A Gentleman-in-waiting and Adjutant to His Highness, the
+     Duke.
+
+     JOSEPH REISACHER, a clerk of the Police Department.
+
+     BETTY, a maid at Beersmann's.
+
+     Two man-servants and a policeman.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRESUMPTION
+
+
+The esteemed, sensitive public will assume that the action takes place
+in Emilsburg, the capital of the Duchy of Gerlestein. The first and
+third acts occur in the house of Herr Fritz Beermann; the second act,
+in the Police Headquarters. It all happens between Sunday afternoon and
+Monday evening.
+
+To be free from blame, the producers will please note that:
+
+BEERMANN is in the fifties; jovial; lively; with gray side-whiskers and
+chin carefully shaved.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN is in the late forties, though youthful looking for her
+age.
+
+FRAU LUND. sixty-eight; a woman of impressive appearance; her manner is
+energetic; her mass of white hair is carefully coiffured.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. about forty-five; stout; talkative.
+
+DR. WASNER. a tall German professor with full blond beard; deep voiced;
+wears pince-nez with black tortoise shell rim and broad black cord.
+
+HANS JACOB DOBLER. is a poet; he is dressed in a poor fitting cut-away
+coat; unkempt mustache and Van Dyke beard.
+
+FRAULEIN PINNEBERG, a feminist, wears a loose fitting gown.
+
+DR. HAUSER. fifty; smooth shaven; wears gold rimmed spectacles,
+
+VON SCHMETTAU, sixty; remains stately looking with effort; military
+bearing.
+
+MADAME DE HAUTEVILLE--indefinitely twenty; her ultra-fashionable
+Parisian gowns invite the cloak and suit patrons.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+"MORAL"
+
+
+
+
+ACT I
+
+
+FURTHER APOLOGY
+
+
+(Card room in Beermann's house. In the background a swinging door opens
+into the dining room. To the right a smaller door leads to the music
+room. On the left side another door opens into the entrance hall.
+To left upstage in a corner a small card table with chairs. To right
+upstage a large sofa and comfortable chairs. Parallel to background down
+stage, tea table with coffee service thereon; near it to right, smaller
+table, on it a humidor.
+
+A butler is engaged at the tea table, another man servant is holding
+swinging door open. [Business of getting up from table.] Many voices
+and rattle of chairs are heard from dining room. Through swinging doors
+enters Bolland and Frau Beermann, Beermann with Frau Bolland, Dr. Hauser
+with Effie, Dr. Wasner with Fraulein Koch-Pinneberg, Dobler alone.)
+
+General greeting of "Mahlzeit."
+
+Dr. Wasner is vigorously shaking hands--going to Frau Beermann says,
+"Ich wunsche Gesegnete Mahlzeit."
+
+The servants pass around coffee--Beermann conversing with Bolland comes
+down stage ...
+
+BOLLAND. You will receive two thousand votes more than the Socialists.
+That's certain.
+
+BEERMANN [skeptical]. No,--no.
+
+BOLLAND. If all the Liberals combine with the Conservatives, the result
+cannot be in doubt.
+
+BEERMANN [taking coffee from the servant]. If ...
+
+BOLLAND. Fusion is here. It's the logical development. I am an old
+politician. The time for discussion is over. Now it's a straight fight
+to a finish.
+
+DR. WASNER [coming nearer]. The German fatherland is rallying to the
+support of the national flag.
+
+BEERMANN. But there are controversies everywhere. I know best. I always
+am told by campaign managers: don't say this and don't say that.
+
+BOLLAND. In what way?
+
+BEERMANN. For instance, I'm to speak at the Liberal Club the day after
+to-morrow. You would not expect me to say the same things I told the
+Conservatives last night ...?
+
+BOLLAND. Your details, of course, must differ. But fundamentally it
+amounts to the same thing.
+
+BEERMANN. The same thing? Believe me, all this masking confuses me.
+[Drinks.]
+
+EFFIE [calling across the tea table where she has been standing with
+others]. Papa! Listen to Frau Bolland. She also says that the Indian
+Dancer is so interesting.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. Positively won--derful, Herr Bolland! You can conceive the
+entire spirit of the Orient.
+
+EFFIE. Why haven't we gone to see her?
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. You surely ought to go. Professor Stohr--you know
+him--told me he never in his life saw anything so gorgeous.
+
+FRAULEIN KOCH-PINNEBERG. She's so picturesque in her greenish gowns.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. I did not know that the Hindoos could be so charming.
+
+BEERMANN. We'll have a look at her some night.
+
+EFFIE. But to-morrow night is her last appearance.
+
+BEERMANN [going to the humidor]. Very well darling. Will you remind me
+of it to-morrow? [Taking a box of cigars offers one to Dobler who is
+standing near him.] Smoke?
+
+DOBLER [taking one]. Thanks. But I am not accustomed to the imported
+ones.
+
+BEERMANN [patronizingly]. You'll get used to high living soon enough.
+
+BOLLAND [to Dobler]. How long have you been in the city now?
+
+DOBLER. Two years.
+
+BOLLAND. And before that you were in ... eh?
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. You must excuse him Herr Dobler. Why in
+Unterschlettenbach, dear ... You know that!
+
+BOLLAND [correcting himself]. Certainly. Bit of literary history. Mighty
+interesting place that Unterschlettenbach ... eh?
+
+DOBLER. Hardly, Herr Kommerzienrat. Poor and unsanitary. Most of its
+inhabitants are miners.
+
+BOLLAND. Fancy that! And I never knew it. Full of miners! Tell me
+though, what do you think of our set here ...? How do you like this
+well-to-do circle ... the big city ... wealthy surroundings?
+
+DOBLER [lighting a cigar]. I like it well enough. But I think I will
+always feel out of place here.
+
+BOLLAND. Can't get used to it?
+
+DOBLER. Everything is so different. It seems to me at times as though I
+had suddenly entered a beautiful house while outdoors my old comrade was
+awaiting me patiently--the open road.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. Isn't that won--derful? So very re-a-lis-tic-ally put! I
+can just picture it. Oh Herr Dobler ... I must tell you: your novel--my
+husband and I talk about it all day long.
+
+BOLLAND. Tell me though--did you yourself experience the life of that
+young man you describe?
+
+DOBLER. It's the story of my youth.
+
+BOLLAND. But it's somewhat colored by poetic imagination?
+
+DOBLER. N---o.
+
+BOLLAND. For instance, you have never actually starved?
+
+DOBLER. Oh, yes. There's no imagination in that.
+
+BOLLAND. Just the way you describe it--so that everything turned red?
+
+DOBLER. Everything had a pink color. On one occasion I did not eat
+anything for four and one-half days.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [compassionately]. You poor thing!
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. That's exceedingly interesting!
+
+BOLLAND. Do tell us all about it! Then you saw dancing fires?
+
+DOBLER. Yes. Everything danced before my eyes, and I saw it all through
+a hazy veil, and towards the end my hearing was affected.
+
+BOLLAND. You don't say so? Your hearing also?
+
+DOBLER. When any one spoke to me it sounded as if he stood a great
+distance off--a great distance.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. Our set never dreams of such things.
+
+BEERMANN. How did it all turn out?
+
+DOBLER. What do you mean?
+
+BEERMANN. Well, in the end you got something to eat again?
+
+DOBLER. Finally I fainted; I was found lying in a meadow, and was taken
+to the hospital.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [sighing]. Are such things still possible in our day?
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. What can you expect--of these idealists! DR. HAUSER. They
+deserve nothing better.
+
+BEERMANN. And after you were in the hospital--how did you get out?
+
+DOBLER. As soon as I got stronger. Later on I became a printer--found a
+position--studied and published my book.
+
+BEERMANN. That's all in your novel, I know. But the part where you
+describe how you were a tramp--that's not true?
+
+DOBLER. Yes, I "hoboed" almost a whole year.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. "Hoboed!" Fancy that! How unique!
+
+FRAULEIN KOCH-PINNEBERG. I can just picture it. Tramping along the
+railroad tracks.
+
+DOBLER. Yes. You folks think you can picture it with four square meals
+a day. But it's quite different, I assure you. There were three of us
+at that time. We worked our way from Basel upwards--sometimes on the
+left--sometimes on the right bank of the Rhine. In Worms we spent the
+last of our money and we had to PEDDLE for HAND-OUTS.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND [not understanding him]. "Handouts?" What is that?
+
+DOBLER [with pathos]. To beg for something to eat, gnadige Frau, for our
+daily bread.
+
+[They all remain silent. Only the voice of the butler who is serving
+liqueur can be heard.] "Cognac monsieur! Chartreuse! Champagne?"
+
+BEERMANN [taking a glass]. To a man of refinement, such an existence
+must have been quite unbearable.
+
+DOBLER [taking a glass of cognac from the butler]. Unpleasant.
+[Drinking.] But you lose your sensitiveness. At first it is hard--but
+one learns. In one hot day on the road ... when you get fagged out--and
+with every stone hurting your feet--you'll learn. The dust blinds
+you--but you've got to go on just the same. In the evening you come to
+a small hamlet with smoke curling above the house-tops and the houses
+themselves look cozy--then you have to hold your hat in your hand and
+beg for a plate of warm soup. [A short pause.]
+
+DR. WASNER [deep bass voice]. Home sweet home!
+
+BOLLAND. The story reminds me exactly of my late father.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. But, Adolph!
+
+BOLLAND. Indeed, I say it does!
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. How can you draw such a comparison? Herr Dobler has become
+a celebrated poet.
+
+BOLLAND. My father also achieved something in life. At his funeral four
+hundred employees followed the coffin.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND [impatiently]. We've heard that before ... Herr Dobler, did
+you write poetry in those days?
+
+DOBLER. No, Frau Bolland. Much later.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. I'll have to read your novel all over again, now that I
+know it is all autobiographical.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [to Dr. Wasner]. You were going to sing, Herr Professor?
+
+DR. WASNER. I promised ...
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Yes, do, Effie will accompany you.
+
+DR. WASNER. If Fraulein will be so kind ... but I don't know how my
+voice is to-day ...
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. You sing so beauti-ful-ly.
+
+DR. WASNER. So much campaign work. Politics corrupts even the voice.
+
+FRAULEIN KOCH-PINNEBERG. Do oblige us.
+
+[Frau Bolland, Frau Beermann, Dr. Wasner, Fraulein Koch, Effie go out
+into the music room.]
+
+BEERMANN. It's a pity that the professor is going to sing. We could have
+started a game of skat. Have some more cognac?
+
+DR. HAUSER. No, thanks.
+
+DOBLER. Thanks. No more for me.
+
+[Bolland seats himself on sofa; Dr. Hauser and Dobler sit in chairs;
+Beermann lights a fresh cigar. The butler goes into the music room and
+as he opens the door, the sound of the piano is heard.]
+
+BOLLAND. As I said before Herr Dobler, your story reminded me very much
+of my late father.
+
+DR. HAUSER. Of the well known Kommerzienrat Bolland?
+
+BOLLAND [sinks deep into chair; crosses legs]. Never mind he was not
+always a wealthy Kommerzienrat. [Turning to Dobler.] Picture to yourself
+a winter landscape--it's bitter cold--a gray sky--it is snowing
+and everything is wrapped in snow. Through all this we see a youth
+walking--rather staggering--along the forest road from Perleberg. A
+half starved young man. [He pauses and brushes ashes from his cigar. The
+butler enters from the music room to get a glass of water; then he goes
+out again. While the door is open, the trembling bass baritone voice of
+Prof. Wasner is heard.]
+
+"In deinen Augen hab ich einst gelesen Von Lieb' und--Gluck--von Lieb'
+und Gluck den Schein...."
+
+[Footnote: (Translated):--"In thy dear eyes I once read the story Of
+love and Joy--of Love, And Joy agleam...."]
+
+[The door closes and the sound is shut off.]
+
+BOLLAND [now continues his speech]. And now the snow falls faster
+and faster. This poor young man had par tout nothing to eat since the
+morning. He becomes very weak; sits down on a bundle of twigs and
+falls asleep. Just by sheer chance it happens that a man from Perleberg
+passing by sees this dejected, snowed-in figure and takes the young
+fellow home with him. [He pauses.] And this young man later became my
+father ...
+
+HAUSER. And Herr Kommerzienrat Bolland.
+
+BOLLAND. Yes. Herr Kommerzienrat Bolland. [To Dobler.] Now don't you
+consider it quite remarkable? Wouldn't that make a fine novel?
+
+DOBLER. Yes ... Yes.
+
+BOLLAND. That could be worked up very nicely, couldn't it? A poor young
+man--the snow covered landscape ...
+
+HAUSER. And that bundle of twigs.
+
+DOBLER. Fortune has her unique whims and likes to turn the tables.
+
+BOLLAND. That's it exactly. Fortune delights in turning the tables.
+
+HAUSER. Unique whims? No. That sort of thing happens every day.
+
+BOLLAND. What happens every day?
+
+HAUSER. The story of a poor young man who becomes a millionaire. Every
+large factory boasts of a like progenitor.
+
+BOLLAND. Do you think so?
+
+HAUSER. And the poor young man grows poorer with each telling. Your son,
+Herr Bolland, in his description will have his grandfather freeze to
+death on the bundle of twigs.
+
+BOLLAND. Upon my word the story is gospel. [To Dobler.] I'd make use of
+that plot ... How he founded his business and how it grew and grew ...
+
+[As Frau Beermann enters from the music room, the tremulous voice of
+Prof. Wasner is heard.]
+
+"Behuet dich Gott, es hat nicht sollen sein." [Footnote: God guard thee
+well, it was but a dream.]
+
+[The closing of the door shuts off the sound.]
+
+DOBLER. In one respect you are right. The character of the SELF MADE
+MAN [Footnote: So in original.] has hardly been treated in contemporary
+German literature.
+
+BOLLAND [with enthusiasm]. That's just what I claim. Always about the
+poor people only. But take a man who has a large income--one who makes a
+success of his business, that also is poetry.
+
+HAUSER. I'd have my ledger novelized, if I were you, Holland. [A maid
+opens door, admitting Frau Lund.]
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [welcoming Frau Lund]. Mama Lund, how good of you.
+
+FRAU LUND [vivaciously]. Always glad to come here. Good afternoon,
+gentlemen. Where is my little Effie?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. In the music room. [To the maid.] Please tell my
+daughter ...
+
+FRAU LUND. No, no, don't disturb her.
+
+BEERMANN. Permit me. [Introducing.] ... Herr Hans Jacob Dobler, our
+famous poet ...
+
+FRAU LUND [taking his hand]. A famous poet? Delighted.
+
+BOLLAND. Author of "Life Story of Hans." ...
+
+FRAU LUND [pleasantly to Dobler]. If I were younger, Herr Dobler, I
+would certainly make believe that I read your book. But at my age I find
+that sort of thing too tiresome. What is the "Life Story of Hans"?
+
+DOBLER. It is a novel, gnadige Frau.
+
+BOLLAND. A masterpiece.
+
+FRAU LUND. Then my ignorance is unpardonable. I'll soon make reparation.
+
+[Frau Bolland followed by Effie, Dr. Wasner and Fraulein Koch hurry out
+of the music room.]
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. I am off for the Arts Club. I'll be late, I fear. [To Frau
+Lund.] Oh, how do you do, Frau Lund?
+
+EFFIE [hurries over to Frau Lund and kisses her hand]. Mama Lund!
+
+FRAU LUND. How is my little mischief maker? When are you coming to see
+me?
+
+EFFIE. I would glady come ... but, I am so busy with music lessons and
+Professor Stohr's lectures ...
+
+FRAU LUND. And this and that and your eighteen years. You are quite
+right, my dear.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND [to Frau Beermann]. May Effie come along? They say there
+are very won-der-ful paintings at the Arts Club.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [turning to Frau Lund], I don't know if ...
+
+FRAU LUND. Of course, let her go along. She has such a pretty little
+dress. Why should she be here with us old people? The gentlemen will
+entertain us ...
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. But then we'll have to hurry. It is quite late. Goodbye,
+Frau Beermann. I enjoyed myself so much. Goodbye, my dear Frau Lund. So
+glad to have seen you again. Goodbye, goodbye ... Adolph!
+
+BOLLAND. Yes, Mother.
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. You won't forget the theatre tonight? At eight. The
+Viennese actor is so fine. [Off to left. Followed by Effie and Fraulein
+Koch. Frau Bolland in the doorway.]
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. Will you come with us, Herr Dobler? You can explain so
+many things.
+
+DOBLER. I'll be glad to. [Shaking hands with Frau Beermann and bowing.]
+
+BEERMANN. Come soon again, Herr Poet.
+
+BOLLAND. And think over the story I told you.
+
+[Dobler goes out left, following Frau Bolland, Effie, and Fraulein
+Koch.]
+
+FRAU LUND [to Frau Beermann]. I'll just have a cup of coffee.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I'll tell them to make a fresh cup for you. A fresh
+cup of coffee. [To the butler who is clearing the table.] Tell the
+chef--[Butler goes out through the middle door. In the meantime Frau
+Holland again appears through left.]
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. Adolph!
+
+BOLLAND. Yes--wifey?
+
+FRAU BOLLAND. Thursday the circus comes to town, don't forget to reserve
+seats.
+
+BOLLAND. All right!
+
+FRAU BOLLAND [while going out]. I'm still a child when the circus comes.
+
+[Frau Lund seats herself on sofa. Next to her on the right Frau
+Beermann; Beermann and Bolland sit opposite in large leather chairs.
+Hauser is standing behind the sofa leaning against it.]
+
+FRAU LUND [to Hauser]. Tell me Judge, where have you been keeping
+yourself all this time?
+
+HAUSER. In my office, Frau Lund, only in my office. But I hear that you
+were on the Riviera.
+
+FRAU LUND. Four weeks in Monte Carlo. Children, I gambled like an old
+viveur.
+
+BEERMANN. What luck?
+
+FRAU LUND. I lost, of course--I'm too old to set the world on fire. But,
+Beermann, I hear all sorts of surprises about you. You are a candidate
+for the Reichstag?
+
+BEERMANN. Yes, they nominated me.
+
+FRAU LUND. Who are "they"?
+
+BEERMANN. The combined Liberals and Conservatives ...
+
+HAUSER. And the Conservatives and Liberals combined.
+
+FRAU LUND. Formerly these were distinct parties.
+
+HAUSER. Formerly,--formerly.
+
+BEERMANN. Now there is fusion.
+
+FRAU LUND [to Frau Beermann]. You never told me that your husband was in
+politics.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. He never was--up to two weeks ago.
+
+FRAU LUND. How quickly things change! And of all the people ... you!
+
+BEERMANN. What's so startling in that?
+
+FRAU LUND. You told me that you never even read the newspapers.
+
+BOLLAND. We all are cordially grateful to Beermann that in an hour of
+need he made this sacrifice.
+
+FRAU LUND. The way you talk about the "hour of need" and "sacrifice"
+Herr Kommerzienrat, it seems to me that you would have been the better
+candidate.
+
+BOLLAND. Oh, I am too pronouncedly Liberal.
+
+HAUSER. And that's an incurable disease!
+
+BOLLAND. At any rate it makes my nomination impossible. A man was needed
+who was not known as a party-man.
+
+FRAU LUND. It would seem then that our friend Beermann has become a
+politician because he ... is no politician?
+
+HAUSER. That's what is known as "fusion."
+
+BEERMANN. Allow me to ask a question. Why should I not become a
+Reichstag deputy?
+
+HAUSER. Quite right! Frau Lund--tell him--why shouldn't he?
+
+BEERMANN. Because I am a novice in politics? We all have to make a
+start.
+
+HAUSER. It's the only calling where one can start any day, Frau Lund,
+without being called upon to produce qualifications.
+
+BOLLAND. There you can tell the lawyer. You'd like to establish a civil
+service examination for members of the Reichstag?
+
+HAUSER. You are not afraid that it might hurt them?
+
+BEERMANN [with importance]. Let me tell you, Judge. What a person
+achieves in real life is far greater than all your book wisdom. We have
+too many lawyers anyway. It's one of our national misfortunes.
+
+FRAU LUND [merrily to Frau Beermann]. Look! He's beginning to debate
+already.
+
+BOLLAND [careless pose]. As you know, I run a soap factory where I
+employ four hundred and sixty-two workmen ... let me repeat it, four
+hundred and sixty-two workmen. Their livelihood and welfare lies in the
+palm of my hand; don't you think that requires brains?
+
+HAUSER. But ...
+
+BOLLAND [interrupting]. Do you realize what the amount of detail and the
+management of the whole factory means?
+
+HAUSER. But friend Beermann never even worked in a soap factory. How can
+that apply to him?
+
+BEERMANN. Oh, what's the use of discussing things if you're joking.
+
+HAUSER. Really, I can't see the connection.
+
+BEERMANN. At any rate, I'm a better candidate than the book-binder whom
+the Socialists have put up against me.
+
+BOLLAND. Beermann has had greater experience and has a broader point of
+view.
+
+FRAU LUND. Then there's something else I heard about Herr Beermann, that
+I don't like at all.
+
+BEERMANN. About me?
+
+FRAU LUND. Yes, I bear that you are the President of the new Society for
+the Suppression of Vice. What makes you do such things? That isn't nice.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I fully agree with you.
+
+BEERMANN. You do? For what reasons? When honest men select me as their
+President, is that mere flattery?
+
+FRAU LUND. It is not becoming to you, and you are insincere in it.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. It's as false as anything can be, and you speak about
+problems which you have never understood.
+
+BEERMANN. Pardon me! I ought to know best what is becoming for me.
+
+FRAU LUND. There's no one in the world I dislike as much as a preacher.
+But if a person wants to be one ... then, according to the gospel he
+ought to live on bread and water. It doesn't go well with champagne and
+lobster.
+
+BEERMANN. Do the Scriptures command that we must be poor to be
+honorable?
+
+FRAU LUND. No, Beermann, but if I still remember, they speak of a camel
+and a needle.
+
+BOLLAND. The ladies evidently are not acquainted with the purposes of
+our new society. I am sure they would subscribe to every one of the
+principles which are incorporated in our By-laws.
+
+FRAU LUND. I certainly would not.
+
+BOLLAND [feeling in his side pocket]. At least read our "Appeal to the
+Public."
+
+FRAU LUND [refusing]. No, thank you.
+
+BOLLAND. Every woman will rejoice when she reads it.
+
+FRAU LUND. Do you think so? How exceedingly amusing your societies are!
+So, cards and bowling no longer offer sufficient entertainment. You have
+to moralize.
+
+HAUSER. I can't help thinking of the notorious starvation freak at the
+circus who gets his meals on the sly everyday.
+
+DR. WASNER. Of course, every conviction can be made ridiculous once it's
+regarded as insincere. You shouldn't accuse without proof.
+
+HAUSER. Herr Professor, politeness requires that each individual be
+regarded as the exception--but not an entire club.
+
+BOLLAND. It is a pity, indeed, that a great movement like ours is
+disposed of by a few trifling remarks. That embitters our task of curing
+the nation of social diseases.
+
+FRAU LUND. Where did you get your Doctor's license to cure?
+
+DR. WASNER. It's sad enough that the cure is left to only a few of us.
+
+HAUSER. Well, I'll remain a patient. You'll need a few anyway to keep up
+your business.
+
+BEERMANN. I consider all this a very cheap kind of humor. I used to joke
+about these matters myself, but if you will only look upon this problem
+from a serious point of view, when your eyes are opened to the ...
+
+FRAU BEERMANN.... Your newly acquired ways of talking are quite
+unbearable.
+
+BEERMANN. Please, don't make a scene.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. We have been married for twenty-six years; have been very
+fortunate with our own children. Why worry about other people?
+
+BEERMANN. You are not logical, my love. The mere fact that I brought
+up my children properly is all the more reason for my joining this
+movement....
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. You didn't lose much sleep about their education.
+
+BEERMANN. Evidently I didn't neglect anything.
+
+FRAU LUND. I'm afraid you pride yourselves on a degree of willpower you
+never exercised.
+
+BEERMANN. Never exercised? My dear Frau Lund, what do you know about the
+temptations which confront us men. What does a woman know about them?
+
+FRAU LUND. The only thing we women don't know about is the manner in
+which these temptations terminate.
+
+BEERMANN. Our movement intends to do away with these very deceptions. We
+want to protect the traditions of the home which women treasure.
+
+FRAU LUND. No. We, women also treasure modesty. We dislike to see men
+pretend to have better morals than they actually have.
+
+BEERMANN. Seriously, Frau Lund. Public immorality must hurt you more.
+
+FRAU LUND. You are mistaken. It requires a genuine manly feeling to
+sympathize with misery.
+
+DR. WASNER. Misery and vice are different problems.
+
+FRAU LUND. They're not. And that is why we will never agree.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. All the more reason why my husband should not set himself
+up as an example. He knows nothing of worry or care.
+
+BEERMANN. We can never subscribe to Frau Lund's principles.
+
+FRAU LUND. No principles, please!
+
+BOLLAND. Out of sheer opposition you will say that you hold different
+ones from us.
+
+FRAU LUND. No. I will say that I hold none at all.
+
+BOLLAND. and WASNER [together]. But, gnadige Frau!
+
+FRAU LUND. I can't help it. I lost them some place on my journey through
+life. I have learned that all your principles have loop holes through
+which people can conveniently slip out and take their friends along
+with them. So I had my choice of either surrendering them or dishonestly
+preaching them to others.
+
+DR. WASNER. Real principles of life are never given up.
+
+HAUSER [with sarcasm]. Cheers from the gallery!
+
+BOLLAND. Principles of morality are the laws of nature--they are her
+dictates.
+
+FRAU LUND. Is that the reason you have started your Society for the
+Suppression of Vice? Do you imagine your by-laws are stronger than the
+laws of nature?
+
+DR. WASNER. May I make just one remark?
+
+BEERMANN. What is it?
+
+DR. WASNER [stroking his beard]. In summing up the matter we can come to
+this decision: women have a beautiful privilege. Certain facts in life
+remain a closed book to them. We, men, unfortunately have to come into
+contact with them.
+
+HAUSER. Did you say UNFORTUNATELY?
+
+DR. WASNER. Please don't interrupt. I maintain "unfortunately"! For the
+last four years, I have been persistently following obscene literature,
+and to-day I have gotten together a collection of it, which I dare
+say is pretty complete. So I am speaking of matters about which I am
+thoroughly informed. [With importance.] The degree of vulgarity our
+people have reached is incredible.
+
+FRAU LUND. And you have been the "persistent collector" of this
+vulgarity?
+
+DR. WASNER. Let me assure you that I took upon myself this task with
+loathing.
+
+HAUSER. Herr Professor, in all my life I have never met a man who for
+four years voluntarily did something which was loathsome to him.
+
+DR. WASNER. You have no business to make such a remark.
+
+HAUSER. Have you derived no satisfaction from it at all?
+
+DR. WASNER. Satisfaction--if you mean the satisfaction of participating
+in the uplift of our people.
+
+FRAU LUND. Uplift? Our reformers capitalize our national lack of
+good taste. Good proof of that are the moral works of art which you
+patronize.
+
+DR. WASNER. The matter we are discussing is more serious than reforming
+bad taste.
+
+FRAU LUND. There is nothing more serious.
+
+DR. WASNER [knowingly]. If you but knew, Frau Lund!
+
+FRAU LUND. I don't have to call and see your collection. Frankly, to me,
+the most obscene picture in your gallery could not be more disgusting
+than the talk you carry on in your meetings.
+
+BEERMANN. Oh! Oh!
+
+FRAU LUND. The nudity of the human body is not disgusting. It is the
+nudity of your mind. No vice is as repulsive as that virtue of yours
+which loudly uncovers itself in public--in market places. Vice has at
+least the shame to hide itself.
+
+BEERMANN [to Bolland]. Can you understand her?
+
+BOLLAND. I must admit, I can't.
+
+DR. WASNER. Gnadige Frau stated that vice hides itself. But in spite of
+that it exists.
+
+BOLLAND. Yes, she admitted that it exists.
+
+DR. WASNER. Shall we tolerate it merely because it crawls into dark
+nooks and corners?
+
+FRAU LUND. You reformers! Let more sunshine into this world and vice
+will not find so many dark corners and nooks to hide in.
+
+BOLLAND. You would not be as opposed to us if you had a son who would be
+exposed to the temptations of our great cities.
+
+FRAU LUND. I would be ashamed of myself if for personal reasons I became
+narrow-minded.
+
+BEERMANN. But just stop to think! Picture a healthy young man in his
+prime falling into the hands of one of these abominable creatures!
+
+FRAU LUND. I could picture something worse than that.
+
+BEERMANN. Still worse?
+
+FRAU LUND. For instance, if he should, with all the credulity of youth,
+enter into the work of your society.
+
+BOLLAND. Well! Well!
+
+BEERMANN. You don't seem to take anything seriously to-day.
+
+FRAU LUND. Very seriously; this young man perhaps does reach the stage
+where he sincerely pities your so-called abominable creature. Then he
+has really advanced in his morality. Let the pity impress itself deeply
+upon him and your abominable creature has preached better to him than
+all your high-sounding phrases.
+
+BOLLAND. I am simply dumbfounded.
+
+DR. WASNER. Then you even believe that our society exerts a bad
+influence?
+
+FRAU LUND [very positively]. Yes.
+
+BOLLAND [with irony]. Fancy! University Professors, philanthropists and
+a general who are with us in this work--they are, of course, the ones
+who are likely to corrupt the morals of the younger generation. Frau
+Lund, no doubt, would like to send our young men to the good Ladies of
+the Pavement.
+
+DR. WASNER. In what way is our influence bad?
+
+FRAU LUND [with warmth]. The young man who joins your society does it
+only to ape you and to advance his own ends and vainglory. He forever
+deprives himself of understanding the meaning of life and of becoming
+helpful to those who suffer.
+
+BOLLAND. Well what do you think of such statements?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. They are splendid. I would be very thankful if my boy
+would embody the ideals of Frau Lund.
+
+BEERMANN. Lena, I simply forbid you to say such things.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Really?
+
+BEERMANN. Everybody knows that Frau Lund is a radical, but I don't want
+you to fall into that habit.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I don't acquire new habits as rapidly as you.
+
+HAUSER [to Beermann]. Don't get excited. A politician must give everyone
+an opportunity to express his views.
+
+DR. WASNER. I teach young people and I heartily wish they'd continue
+to seek their ideals among high minded men and not in the dark city
+streets.
+
+BOLLAND. Right! And not in the dark city streets.
+
+FRAU LUND. Nor there, Herr Kommerzienrat, where the veil of shame is
+rudely torn from inborn sensitiveness and it is shorn of every secret
+charm.
+
+DR. WASNER. Correct! We do want to deprive it of its charm.
+
+FRAU LUND. You succeed in doing that; no tenderness can survive the
+brutal frankness of your meetings.
+
+DR. WASNER. It is not a national German trait to sugar-coat sin.
+
+FRAU LUND. Why do you confound all lack of refinement with the national
+character?
+
+DR. WASNER. Because it is good German to call a spade a spade.
+
+BEERMANN [getting up]. Why argue to no purpose? Let's start our game of
+skat.
+
+BOLLAND. Because it appears to be a conflict of two different
+philosophies.
+
+BEERMANN [rises, goes to card table, opens a drawer, takes out a deck
+of cards and opens them]. It's always the same old story. Never start
+anything with women! They must have the last word. [Sits down at card
+table. Bolland gets up and sits beside him.]
+
+FRAU LUND [laughing]. Spoken again like a typical reformer.
+
+DR. WASNER [rising]. I don't want to continue this argument, but if by
+any chance you have gained the impression that I regard this matter from
+a prejudiced view point, I will cheerfully admit it. I do.
+
+BEERMANN [calling]. Oh, do come on, Herr Professor.
+
+DR. WASNER [turning to card table]. I'm coming. [To others.] I admit
+with pride that I am prejudiced. For me there exists only one question:
+How can I best serve my fatherland?
+
+BOLLAND. Herr Professor!
+
+DR. WASNER [turning to table]. Just a moment.... [To others.] Let the
+sturdy qualities of our people be conserved. That stand is unassailable.
+Then I will be sure that my efforts have at least ...
+
+BEERMANN [loudly]. But, my dear Wasner!
+
+WASNER [not dismayed, continuing].... at least a national scope.
+
+HAUSER. Wouldn't you rather play skat, professor?
+
+WASNER [going over to card table]. There remains only one thing for me
+to say. If I have used sharp words, I want to apologize. [Takes a seat.]
+
+BEERMANN. You deal, Professor.
+
+DR. WASNER [shuffling the cards and talking at the same time]. For me
+there exists but one ideal. That which Tacitus described as it once
+prevailed among the old Teutons. Quamquam severa illic matrimonia nec
+ullam morum partem magis laudaveris. [He lets Bolland cut and then
+deals.] The most praiseworthy trait of the Teutons was the strictness
+of their marriage customs. Nam prope soli Barbarorum singulis uxoribus
+contenti sunt. They were almost the only barbarians to content
+themselves with a single wife.
+
+BEERMANN [loudly]. Tournee!
+
+BOLLAND. I'll go you!
+
+BEERMANN. Twenty!
+
+BOLLAND. I'll better that!
+
+BEERMANN. Take it! Gras-Solo!
+
+[They play.]
+
+[Hauser, Frau Lund, Frau Beermann remain sitting at right.]
+
+FRAU LUND. At last the Fatherland is saved.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. It's the only occupation for which nature intended them.
+They should not tinker with national problems.
+
+HAUSER. Have patience. Political ambition dies out after the first
+defeat.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN.... which I hope will happen.
+
+HAUSER. That's as certain as fate. Else he never would have been
+nominated.
+
+BEERMANN [calling from the card table]. I have pretty sharp hearing!
+
+HAUSER. A very fine acquisition, Beermann, when you grow old.
+
+BOLLAND [throwing a card on the table]. Fifty-nine and four make
+sixty-three! The rest you can take.
+
+(They throw down their cards; Bolland collects them and shuffles.)
+
+WASNER [half turning to Hauser], And then there is the celebrated
+passage, "Ergo septa pudicitia agunt, nullis ... spectaculorum
+illecebris corruptae."
+
+BEERMANN. I have six cards.
+
+BOLLAND. The bottom one belongs to the Professor.
+
+WASNER [as before, continuing]. So the wife lived surrounded by
+tenderness and care ... and so forth, "Literarum secreta...." Secret
+communications were not tolerated by either husband or wife.
+
+BEERMANN. Please drop that Tacitus. It's your chance to lead....
+
+WASNER. I pass....
+
+HOLLAND. So do I.
+
+BOLLAND [loudly and enthusiastically]. That's the way to get at them!
+Trumps! And trumps again.
+
+WASNER [murmuring]. "Paucissima adulteria in tam numerosa gente...."
+[Gradually lapses into silence and then continues to play with energy.]
+
+FRAU LUND [with a glance towards the card table]. Why do we take our
+principles so seriously.... It's really ridiculous how our every
+opinion soon turns into religious beliefs.
+
+WASNER. The matter is dead serious.
+
+FRAU LUND. Who will think of it to-morrow?
+
+HAUSER [nodding towards card table]. Not they, of course. But there are
+cleverer people. The so-called thinking public in Germany must have some
+national problem to solve. It finds some such, readily enough in order
+to play with it. Meanwhile they take no notice that the party in power
+[Footnote: Men with the brass buttons.] are lining their pockets.
+
+FRAU LUND. Haven't they always been doing that?
+
+HAUSER. Yes, but not with such ease. Here and there they were rapped
+over the knuckles. But nowadays they could cart away the entire capitol.
+
+FRAU LUND. There's not so much left to-day.
+
+HAUSER. A couple of pieces anyhow to take along as keepsakes.
+
+FRAU LUND. In my days I saw one reform after another on the bargain
+counter; but we women remain mere spectators while ideals come and go;
+we can not realize how much they mean to men.
+
+HAUSER. My dear Frau Lund, if a real reform should effectively rise
+among us some day, then you women will have to lend a helping hand. With
+those [nodding towards card-table] kindergarten heroes nothing can be
+accomplished.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. What influence can we exert so long as men organize their
+societies for the protection of women's virtue!
+
+HAUSER. These henpecked gentlemen always nominate themselves chastity's
+guardians.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. They are of importance only when they can get some one to
+listen. I'd like to go to their meetings and tell them that.
+
+HAUSER. Their meetings--bosh! Their sort only couple their nonsense with
+a few self-evident generalities which no one would really oppose.
+No, first of all they must be educated and that you women alone can
+accomplish.
+
+FRAU LUND. You say that as if we had any influence on public opinion.
+
+HAUSER. You do all the applauding. The whole game is played for you. If
+you withdraw your applause not a single one of the peacocks of virtue
+will open up his gospel feathers for exhibition. It is indeed of great
+importance to you that they do not banish all refinement from our social
+life.
+
+FRAU LUND [citing].
+
+     [Footnote: in original "FRAU LUND [zitierend].
+        "Ja, da eur Wonnedienst noch glanzte,
+         Wie ganz anders, anders war es da!
+         Da man deine Tempel noch bekranzte....
+
+         DR. WASNER [hat beim Zitieren der Schillerischer Verse
+         heruber gehorcht und fallt nun mit tiefen Basse ein]....
+         Venus Amathusia."]
+
+"Yes, while still thy sanctuaries of pleasure Crowned this earth like in
+Arcadia Joy had no penalty nor trader's measure...."
+
+DR. WASNER [when the citation began listened over his cards, now falls
+in with deep bass]. "... Venus Amathusia."
+
+BOLLAND [angrily breaking in]. Man alive, why didn't you play your Ace
+of Spades? If you had brought out that Ace you'd have a trump--then
+you'd beat this with a trump ... and then another trum....
+
+BEERMANN. Now, beloved friends and countrymen, no post-mortem speeches.
+[While dealing cards.] You cut, Bolland.
+
+BOLLAND [cutting cards]. Make use of your trumps, Herr Professor. I am
+trying to play into your hands.
+
+DR. WASNER. I thought ...
+
+BOLLAND. You didn't. If you had you'd play differently.
+
+BEERMANN [speaking to Frau Lund, while dealing]. How far have you gotten
+with your moralizing? Have we agreed yet--[Laughing.] Yes; yes; these
+women folks!
+
+WASNER [arranging cards in his hand]. They were citing Schiller a
+moment ago. We must not forget, ladies, that it was Schiller himself who
+awakened the national spirit of our race.
+
+HAUSER. Your national spirit unfortunately found its way into the
+strangest kinds of containers.
+
+DR. WASNER. I decidedly protest against such a poor opinion. If the
+sincere religious sentiment of the German element ...
+
+BOLLAND [interrupting him]. We are waiting for you, Herr Professor. Are
+you finally going to announce your cards?
+
+DR. WASNER [continuing his pathetic tone]. I pass.
+
+HAUSER. The steady contact with school children keeps our educators
+refreshingly naive. That man still believes in the superiority of the
+Teutonic element.
+
+FRAU LUND. And in the stability of our special German moral standard.
+
+HAUSER. Until some little scandal crops up again. By the way, we shall
+soon have one right in our city.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [with interest]. Here?
+
+HAUSER. To-morrow you'll read all about it in the newspapers. The police
+have made a discovery which may prove more than they bargained for.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Here? [Beerman, head sideways, listens over his cards.]
+
+HAUSER. Last night the police arrested a woman who kept a very open
+house. She colored it by going under a fancy French name, and they say
+only entertained the best of society. She kept a diary which fell into
+the hands of the police.
+
+BEERMANN [he leaves his seat, comes forward, right]. A diary?
+
+BOLLAND [drops his cards and rises]. What sort of a diary?
+
+HAUSER. Oh! Just a naughty little inventory of all of her visitors.
+
+BEERMANN. What is the name of the lady?
+
+HAUSER. Some French name which sounds to me like rouge.
+
+BEERMANN. I can't understand how you could forget her name.
+
+BOLLAND. I can't either as long as you seem to know all about it.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [to Beermann]. But, Fritz, why should you worry about it?
+
+BEERMANN. Well ... am I the President of the Vice Suppression Society
+or, am I not ...?
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT II
+
+
+(An office at Police Headquarters. To rear on the left stands the
+Assessor's desk. To the right against the wall, the desk of Reisacher,
+the police clerk. Left front is a sofa with two chairs. On the right
+wall is a telephone. Side entrance left. Another entrance in the middle.
+Stroebel and Reisacher are seated with their backs to one another.
+Stroebel is reading a newspaper; Reisacher is writing. Short pause.)
+
+STROEBEL [half turning]. Reisacher!
+
+REISACHER [also turning]. Yes, Herr Assessor.[Footnote: An assessor is a
+petty police official.]
+
+STROEBEL. Are you familiar with the expression "those higher up"?
+
+REISACHER. Yes, Herr Assessor.
+
+STROEBEL. What do you understand by it?
+
+REISACHER. Those are the folks who are something and have money
+somewhere.
+
+STROEBEL. Is it used to express contempt or class hatred?
+
+REISACHER [eagerly]. Well ... well! "The higher ups" are respected.
+
+STROEBEL. Are you certain?
+
+REISACHER. Absolutely.
+
+[They both turn around to their former positions; Stroebel continues to
+read, and Reisacher to write. Short pause.]
+
+STROEBEL [half turning]. Reisacher!
+
+REISACHER [does likewise]. Yes, Herr Assessor.
+
+STROEBEL. After all, it means class hatred.
+
+REISACHER. No, no.
+
+STROEBEL. Pay attention. Here it says [he reads]: "Of course, for those
+higher up there are no laws." That means, I take it, that the rich are
+beyond the control of the law. By "control of the law," I wish you to
+understand I am attacking the humiliating and anarchistic notion that
+the law does not apply equally to rich and poor. Also I want to besmirch
+the rich, by designating them by a slang expression.
+
+REISACHER. Yes, Herr Assessor.
+
+STROEBEL. Then how can you say it does not express class hatred and
+contempt?
+
+REISACHER. Because, then again, you see, people who have money are
+respected anyway.
+
+STROEBEL. You will never learn to think precisely, Reisacher.
+
+REISACHER. Yes, Herr Assessor.
+
+[Both resume their former positions. Short pause. Police Commissioner,
+Freiherr van Simbach, enters left. Stroebel lays aside his paper, rises
+and salutes. Reisacher writes hurriedly.]
+
+COMMISSIONER [Footnote: President of Police, in original.] 'Morning,
+Herr Assessor. [To Reisacher.] Take your work outside, Reisacher, until
+I have finished. [Reisacher exit through middle door.] I want to ask you
+a few questions, Herr Stroebel. [Stroebel bows. The Commissioner during
+the conversation takes center of stage and speaks nonchalantly and
+somewhat drawingly.] I read your report. Day before yesterday, that was
+on Saturday, you ordered the arrest of a certain woman.
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, Commissioner.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Well, what about her?
+
+STROEBEL. According to the report of Lieutenant Schmuttermaier, we have
+in our hands a very dangerous person.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Is that so!
+
+STROEBEL. Within a short time she has almost demoralized our city.
+
+COMMISSIONER. She has been in the city about three or four years....
+
+STROEBEL. She has, according to the report.
+
+COMMISSIONER. In what way has she been dangerous? Did bald headed
+gentlemen loosen up a bit in her house or are there special charges
+against her?
+
+STROEBEL. No special ones, but her whole behavior. She had a beautiful
+apartment in the best residential district. According to the report,
+the neighbors began to talk about her. She dressed in a rather fast and
+fashionable manner....
+
+COMMISSIONER. Then because she did not cater to the common people, you
+consider her so terrible?
+
+STROEBEL. No, Commissioner.
+
+COMMISSIONER. I thought not. Remember, please, I don't want you to get
+any of the popular ideas about the corruption of our best society. Slit
+skirts cause as much harm. [Stroebel bows.] What is her name?
+
+STROEBEL. Ninon De Hauteville. But her real name is Therese Hochstetter.
+
+COMMISSIONER. H-a-u-t-e V-i-l-l-e?
+
+STROEBEL. She comes of a good family. Her father was a Peruvian consul.
+When he lost his money, she married a consular secretary. He divorced
+her four years ago.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Indeed. So she is a person of refinement.
+
+STROEBEL. But she has ...
+
+COMMISSIONER.... A demoralizing influence. I know all about that. Tell
+me, what made you arrest her?
+
+STROEBEL [with importance]. Eight days ago, I received a letter severely
+rebuking the police because her place was tolerated....
+
+COMMISSIONER. Who was the letter from?
+
+STROEBEL [hesitatingly']. It was ... really ... anonymous.
+
+COMMISSIONER. I hope that you are very careful about anonymous
+communications.
+
+STROEBEL. Generally, I pay little attention to them. But this letter was
+so full of details, I simply had to consider it. Of course, only as a
+hint and I intended to get proof. I gave it to Schmuttermaier and told
+him to keep the Hochstetter woman under strict surveillance. Saturday at
+noon we obtained positive evidence,
+
+COMMISSIONER. Then?
+
+STROEBEL. Then I ordered Schmuttermaier to raid the place ...
+
+COMMISSIONER.... During which you found a diary in her apartments?
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, Commissioner; a diary with the names of her visitors. The
+dates and their social standing. Everything.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Have you finished reading it?
+
+STROEBEL. No, sir. I just glanced at it. I only got it from
+Schmuttermaier an hour ago. I was not in the office yesterday.
+
+COMMISSIONER [thoughtfully]. It's too late to do anything to-day.
+[Consulting his watch.] Let me see. Bring me an exact report of all
+important names contained in the diary ... at ten to-morrow morning.
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, Commissioner, at ten o'clock.
+
+COMMISSIONER. And remember, it's very important that you make this
+report personally. Don't let the clerk see the diary. It has not yet
+been in his hands?
+
+STROEBEL [going to his desk]. No. It's locked up in my desk.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Time enough to bring it to me tomorrow morning when you
+make your report.
+
+STROEBEL. How do you want me to get my data, Commissioner? Shall I
+summon the important people involved?
+
+COMMISSIONER [with emphasis]. Only ... the important ... names ...
+that's all. By the way, how far have you gone in the case? Have you
+taken any further steps?
+
+STROEBEL. No. I will examine the Hochstetter woman in a little
+while....
+
+COMMISSIONER. And Schmuttermaier? Has he orders to make any further
+raids?
+
+STROEBEL. Not yet. I want to read the diary first.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Above all, I do not want him to act without instructions.
+People of no importance like to do important things.
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, Commissioner. Your orders will be carried out.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Orders? I never give orders. You have your duties to
+perform. I don't care to tell you what to do.... But there must be no
+further raids until I have seen the diary.
+
+STROEBEL. Certainly, Commissioner.
+
+COMMISSIONER. At the same time, don't neglect your duty.
+
+STROEBEL. I will do everything necessary for the promotion of public
+decency.
+
+COMMISSIONER [who has been pacing the room, turns suddenly.] Public
+decency? Very well, very well.... [Short pause.] We occupy a most
+peculiar position Do we not, Herr Stroebel? [Stroebel bows.] We know
+fully the existing difference between official ... and let me say ...
+personal sensitiveness, do we not? [Stroebel bows in accord.] I mention
+this merely because you spoke of public decency. There is a decency
+about which you and I privately might have most interesting discussions.
+As far as I am concerned, such decency can be without limits. But there
+is another--the public decency--which it is our business to police.
+This has its very precise limits. For example, a scandal. Scandal of any
+description. Am I right, Herr Assessor?
+
+STROEBEL [clicks his heels together]. Certainly, Commissioner.
+
+COMMISSIONER. That brings me to another matter. For the past few weeks,
+there has been in the city, a so-called Society for the Suppression of
+Vice. Have you any sympathy with these people?
+
+STROEBEL. I know of their aims ...
+
+COMMISSIONER. Their aims do not interest me a bit. I mean, do you
+personally cooperate with them?
+
+STROEBEL. Not ... yet.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Not yet? ... Hem! ... This Society is likely to interest
+itself in this case. If someone comes to see me, Herr Stroebel, I will
+refer him to you. [Stroebel bows.] Kindly bear this one thing in mind.
+These men have political ambition, and are playing to the press. On the
+whole the thing shows conservative tendencies.
+
+STROEBEL. Certainly, Commissioner.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Welcome them with open arms. Agree gratefully to every
+suggestion for the betterment of the people, et cetera. Listen with
+respectful appreciation but do nothing further.
+
+STROEBEL [uncertain]. Nothing further? ...
+
+COMMISSIONER. No ... nothing further.
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, Commissioner.
+
+COMMISSIONER. These people must remain assured that they wield a great
+influence. As a matter of fact, they have none at all and it's a good
+thing they haven't.
+
+STROEBEL. So, I may ...
+
+COMMISSIONER.... Do everything you can be responsible for. As a matter
+of principle, I do not like to give orders. You will submit that report
+then [consulting his watch] at ten to-morrow? Good morning! [Goes toward
+the door left, remains standing a moment, then turns around.] You have
+been rather zealous in your work, I must say. [Stroebel bows slightly.]
+To arrest a woman on the strength of an anonymous letter shows excessive
+zeal. [Stroebel bows slightly.] I like to see my men energetic but
+[clears his throat] bear in mind what I just said. Careful of a scandal!
+Good morning! [Exit.]
+
+(Stroebel sits down and stares at ceiling. He swings his chair around,
+then whistles. Reisacher comes in through middle door and seats himself
+at his desk. He coughs.)
+
+STROEBEL [half turning]. Reisacher.
+
+REISACHER [does likewise]. Yes, Herr Assessor.
+
+STROEBEL. How long have you been in the police department?
+
+REISACHER. It will be eighteen years this fall.
+
+STROEBEL. You have seen many a change, no doubt?
+
+REISACHER. Surely.
+
+STROEBEL. Tell me, how long has our Commissioner been in office?
+
+REISACHER. The Commissioner? Oh ... it's seven. No, let me see, it's
+eight years....
+
+STROEBEL. Hem ... do you really suppose he wants us to keep our eyes
+wide open all the time?
+
+REISACHER [eagerly]. Certainly. That's what he wants.
+
+STROEBEL. Does he? ... [Short pause.] I had an idea he didn't want us to
+be too strict for fear of notoriety.
+
+REISACHER [eagerly]. No, no. He certainly would not like that.
+
+STROEBEL [turns around completely]. Listen, Reisacher, you contradict
+yourself all the time.
+
+REISACHER [turns around likewise]. I beg your pardon, Herr Stroebel. May
+I suggest ...
+
+STROEBEL. But you are always contradicting yourself. First you say yes,
+and then you say no.
+
+REISACHER. I beg your pardon, Herr Assessor Stroebel. I wanted to say
+that in the Police Department it is like this: Everything you do is all
+right, if it turns out all right.
+
+STROEBEL [turns back to his desk]. You will never learn to formulate a
+thought precisely.
+
+REISACHER [also turns]. All right, Herr Stroebel.
+
+(Short pause. Stroebel reads. Reisacher writes. A commotion is heard
+through the middle door, which, is thrown open and Ninon De Hauteville
+enters. Behind her a policeman, who holds her tightly by the arm. She
+tries to free herself.)
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [she wears a large picture hat, and is highly perfumed].
+Keep your hands off me. I haven't killed anyone. Please, let me go.
+
+STROEBEL [he has risen]. What's the matter?
+
+POLICE OFFICER. [releasing her, stands at attention]. Have the honor
+sir, to report this disreputable woman--the Hochstetter person.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Please, help me, sir. I am being handled like the commonest
+criminal.
+
+STROEBEL. Why do you keep that hat on? You are not paying us a visit?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Indeed not! I am not paying a visit. If I lived to be a
+hundred, it would never occur to me to pay you a visit.
+
+STROEBEL. Don't talk so much. Do you understand? [To Reisacher.] Get
+your report book ready.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Is this the complaint office? I demand to know at least why
+I was arrested.
+
+STROEBEL. Oh, here you'll find that out soon enough. [To the officer.]
+You can go now. [Officer exit through middle door.]
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Oh, Monsieur, what shameful treatment. I was locked up in a
+cell with two ordinary street walkers. You will help me, won't you?
+
+STROEBEL [who has crossed over to Reisacher]. Please don't be so
+familiar.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I am so helpless. No one will listen to me. No one answers
+me. An awful looking woman brought me a cup of yellow broth and a rusty
+spoon--[indicating with her hand] so big. "Eat!" she said, and threw it
+down and left. You will see to it, sir, that my friends are notified,
+won't you?
+
+STROEBEL [glancing over Reisacher's shoulder]. Your friends cannot help
+you here. [To Reisacher.] Don't make the margin so wide. You are wasting
+good paper. [To Hauteville.] Your friends can do nothing at all for you.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. You think so, do you? One single word and I'll be set free.
+
+STROEBEL [contemptuously]. Indeed!
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Before the day is over everyone of you will have to
+apologize to me. Yes, before this day is over.
+
+STROEBEL. Certainly. [To Reisacher.] The word "Assessor" has two "s" in
+all cases.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. If you people had the least idea whom you disturbed. If you
+knew whom you compelled to hide in the wardrobe.
+
+STROEBEL [turning quickly to Hauteville]. In the wardrobe? So! [To
+Reisacher.] Make a note of that, Reisacher. [With emphasis.] So someone
+escaped us by hiding in the wardrobe.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Yes, someone escaped you by hiding in the wardrobe.
+
+STROEBEL [suddenly very friendly.] Upon my word, Madame, I believe that
+we understand each other fully. You are a clever woman. You will not try
+to deny the facts.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Not one solitary thing. I am most anxious that you should
+try to find out all.
+
+STROEBEL. Bravo! I came near saying that I respect you for that.
+[Benevolently.] You know, Hochstetter, every man is liable to make a
+fool of himself now and then.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Indeed they are! I know best what fools men do make of
+themselves.
+
+STROEBEL. Now and then people violate the law. But they ought not to
+deny it afterwards. That's the sad part of it, because we always find
+out the truth in the end.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I wish you had it now.
+
+STROEBEL. We have a clue. But you are a woman of character, I admit. I
+take off my hat to you.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Indeed!
+
+STROEBEL. I certainly do.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I was afraid I had lost all refinement after spending the
+last two nights in such company.
+
+STROEBEL [benevolently]. No doubt, it was a trifle hard.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. It was terrible. They really do make me pay for
+discreetness.
+
+STROEBEL. Your patrons are the very men who make it so hard for you.
+They get you into trouble and then expect you to protect them. Isn't it
+so?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. What an experience for me! To have my apartment raided at
+night and be simply dragged away myself.
+
+STROEBEL. That is too much.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I was not even allowed to take along a change of underwear.
+Then I am locked up with women who have every known variety of vermin.
+
+STROEBEL. And with all that they expect you to remain silent!
+
+HAUTEVILLE. When I want to comb my hair, the matron gives me a comb
+which these women have been using a whole week.
+
+STROEBEL. That simply can't go on,
+
+HAUTEVILLE. And the air! I never knew that such odors existed on this
+earth.
+
+STROEBEL. Still you are to shield the others! After all, you know, I
+think that discreetness is just talk.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Talk?
+
+STROEBEL. I mean if anybody ever had a moral right to give things away,
+fully and freely, you are that person; ... after all you have suffered.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. That's right. I am that person.
+
+STROEBEL. Well then; did somebody escape into that wardrobe?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Yes, somebody did escape into that wardrobe.
+
+STROEBEL [eagerly]. Who? [Short pause.]
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [laughs curtly]. Who?
+
+STROEBEL [more sharply]. Who on Saturday night at 10 o'clock escaped the
+search of the police by hiding in the wardrobe?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [laughs curtly]. It is quite unnecessary for me to tell you
+that.
+
+STROEBEL [sharply]. Why?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. You are certain to find it out ultimately.
+
+STROEBEL. Ultimately?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Even if I wanted to I could not tell! Lord, when a person
+gets strictly accustomed to never mentioning any name, it is almost
+impossible to do it. I, believe that I would have to learn how first.
+
+STROEBEL [shouting]. And you will learn it; I promise you that. You ...
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Mais Monsieure!
+
+STROEBEL [shouting]. No "Monsieur" about it. Here you'll talk good plain
+English.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. But why are you getting so excited?
+
+STROEBEL [to Reisacher]. I am nice to this person. I reason with her,
+and she says that she will first have to learn how to expose her crowd.
+[Shouts.] Decency is what you'll have to learn and I'll teach it to you.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Oh, not this very minute.
+
+STROEBEL. I know you. I know your sort! You want to gain time so that
+you can concoct the blackest lies.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [calmly]. That would be entirely superfluous. The cleverest
+lie could not help me half as much as the simple truth.
+
+STROEBEL. Out with it!
+
+HAUTEVILLE. It's better if you find it out through someone else.
+
+STROEBEL. That's your opinion.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. You would only be embarrassed and I would be guilty of a
+breach of confidence.
+
+STROEBEL [with contempt]. As though people confided in such as you.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I think that they rely upon the fact that our loyalty is not
+"just talk."
+
+STROEBEL [again calm]. Listen to me. I do not think that you entirely
+understand your position. [Hauteville shrugs her shoulders.] No, I don't
+think that you know at all what is involved.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. On the contrary it is far worse that you don't seem to
+realize who is involved.
+
+STROEBEL [quickly]. In what?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. In the wardrobe.
+
+STROEBEL. Have you lost your senses? You are a prisoner here. Do you
+want to poke fun at us?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. No.
+
+STROEBEL. Then don't consider yourself so important with those meaning
+insinuations.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. If I did, I'd soon lose my importance after eating that
+yellow broth from those rusty tin plates.
+
+STROEBEL. And that will continue for some time.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [energetically]. No, it will not. I tell you right now
+that I will not spend another night in that dirty hole. I will not be
+mistreated any longer.
+
+STROEBEL [with sarcasm]. Of course we are going to ask you for your kind
+permission.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I will not remain here. If they think I will let them ruin
+me, they're very much mistaken. This is an outrage and here fair play
+stops.
+
+STROEBEL. The likes of you and fair play!
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [bitterly]. Yes, the likes of me. Every day we hear the
+confessions of those very people who publicly show contempt for us. We
+know how false are all virtuous words with which they condemn us, but we
+remain silent.
+
+STROEBEL. Of course, you do all this out of pure sense of fair play? [He
+imitates the motion of counting money.]
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Money? ... My dear fellow, with money our patrons pay well
+for that very thing which they later on call indecent. You get as much
+decency from us for money as you get from other people, but believe me,
+we could shatter many illusions.
+
+STROEBEL. Well, make a beginning right here.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. It ought to be impossible here. The police have as few
+illusions as we. That is, provided they are properly instructed.
+
+STROEBEL. That's right now, put us in the same class with yourself.
+
+HAUTEVILLE, Why not? We and the police could easily ruin the credit of
+virtue, but neither of us do it. You--you because you regard that credit
+as a good substitute for the principal, and we,--Lord, because we need
+this credit as well.
+
+STROEBEL. Both of us?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. The very moment that public virtue loses its credit, the
+secret vices will drop in market value.
+
+STROEBEL. What are you talking about anyway?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I'm telling you why both of us must hush things up.
+
+STROEBEL. Then you are not convinced that there is a real public
+morality?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. You mean that morality which you put on with your street
+clothes? I know it well. Gentlemen take it off in my apartment and hang
+it up in my wardrobe, and there I can inspect it very thoroughly. It is
+truly remarkable how our respected gentlemen still make formal social
+visits in costumes which have so often been patched.
+
+REISACHER [who up to this point apparently--without paying any
+attention, has been sitting with his back toward them, turns half way
+round]. Pardon me, Herr Assessor.
+
+STROEBEL [impatiently]. Now what do you want?
+
+REISACHER. Pardon me, Herr Assessor, shall I put all this talk into the
+minutes?
+
+STROEBEL. No, I will dictate to you later. [To Hauteville.] You know
+that you are not here to amuse yourself.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I know that.
+
+STROEBEL. Listen to me quietly. You hinted before that if we kept you
+here another night you would confess everything. Well I tell you here
+and now that we will not keep you here one, but a number of nights. You
+can ease your conscience at once.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I would only make yours the heavier for it.
+
+STROEBEL. My conscience?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Yes, if I tell you here, there will be no possibility of a
+mistake, but everything must remain a mistake.
+
+STROEBEL. I have patience with you, but I will not let you fool me.
+Now get yourself together and consider every word. What must remain a
+mistake?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Everything that has happened since Saturday night.
+
+STROEBEL. All that must remain a mistake?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. It simply must not have happened. No one broke into my
+apartment. No one arrested me. No one compelled anyone to hide in the
+wardrobe.
+
+STROEBEL [shouts.] And no one ever saw such an insolent female.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. This browbeating.
+
+STROEBEL. It is meant for such as you.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [indignantly stopping her ears]. It reminds one so much of
+the tin plates and the comb.
+
+STROEBEL [angrily pacing the room]. I never heard anything like it.
+Picture it! She makes insinuations as though we had something to be
+afraid of. [He stops pacing and faces her.] You evidently imagine that
+the whole government would run away from you.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. No, but it ran away from your Lieutenant.
+
+STROEBEL. Where?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Into the wardrobe.
+
+STROEBEL [pacing up and down]. I will bring that fellow out of your
+wardrobe. I will bring him to light. Into bright daylight! [Remains
+standing in front of Hauteville.] What did you say?
+
+HAUTEVILE. Non.
+
+STROEBEL [resuming his pacing']. One of those fine fellows who wallow
+in the mire and then expect us to make exceptions. [Stops pacing, facing
+Hauteville.] What were you saying?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Nothing.
+
+STROEBEL. Sad enough that now and again a halfway decent person strays
+into your place.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. He can only regret that he was disturbed.
+
+STROEBEL [goes quickly to desk and unlocks a drawer]. Besides, do not
+deceive yourself. We do not need your disclosures. [He takes out a
+rather bulky paper, a school composition book, and holds it triumphantly
+in the air.] There; do you recognize this?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [quietly, without a single trace of surprise]. It looks like
+my diary.
+
+STROEBEL. It is your book. It was found in your desk.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [very calm]. The desk was locked,
+
+STROEBEL. It was broken open. Well? What about your loyalty now?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [shrugs her shoulders]. I kept it. I haven't a fire-proof
+safe.
+
+STROEBEL [contemptuously]. Would you by chance like to show me the name?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. What name?
+
+STROEBEL. Of the gentleman in the wardrobe.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [laughs]. His name really is not in it.
+
+STROEBEL. Do not evade but show me.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Oh, there are parties whose names are not in the Hotel
+Register. They travel incognito.
+
+STROEBEL [persuadingly]. Hochstetter, I have an impression that you are
+not such a stupid girl, and I believe that you would like to [pointing
+to the diary] take good care of your--patrons. If you do not immediately
+reveal the name of that man, I will summon the whole bunch.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. [shrugs her shoulders]. That's something I cannot stop you
+from doing.
+
+STROEBEL. What then is your belief in fair play?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. I never submitted that diary to you. You could not have
+gotten it from me voluntarily, but it quite suits me that the officer
+found it in my desk.
+
+STROEBEL. Why?
+
+HAUTEVILLE. Because he might have searched for it in the wardrobe.
+
+STROEBEL. Now my patience is at an end. [Presses the button on his
+desk.] I will have no consideration for anyone.
+
+HAUTEVILLE. After all, perhaps you will. For yourself.
+
+[Police officer enters.]
+
+STROEBEL. Take this woman downstairs, [The officer leaves with
+Hauteville. Stroebel sits down, pushes the chair angrily to the desk,
+then gets up and throws the diary and several other books on the desk,
+saying to himself:] Never heard anything like it! Such impudence!
+
+[Reisacher looks at him with amusement. A knock at the door.]
+
+STROEBEL [formally]. Come in!
+
+BEERMANN [enters hastily from the left. He breathes heavily. He has a
+handkerchief in his hand, with which he frequently mops his brow].
+Is this the proper department at last? I am being sent all around the
+building. [Breathing heavily.] I hope I am finally in the proper bureau.
+
+STROEBEL. What do you want?
+
+BEERMANN. Pardon me for a moment while I catch my breath. I climbed
+twice to the third floor and again down to the ground floor. The
+Commissioner sent me to room 147 and there they told me to go to room
+174.
+
+STROEBEL. Who sent you?
+
+BEERMANN [taking a deep breath]. The Commissioner. I really wanted to
+speak to him personally, but he told me I should go to the gentleman who
+has "Morality." Are you the gentleman who has all the morality?
+
+STROEBEL. Certainly.
+
+BEERMANN. At last. [Mopping his braze.] Good God? when a matter is so
+urgent and so much depends on it they ought not to chase one all over
+the building. I must rest a bit. All this excitement and running up and
+down stairs.... So you are the gentleman who has the matter in hand.
+
+STROEBEL. What matter?
+
+BEERMANN. On Saturday night a lady was arrested. A Madam de Hauteville,
+and certain papers were taken from her. Have you those papers here?
+
+STROEBEL. What business is that of yours?
+
+BEERMANN. My name is Beermann; Fritz Beermann, the banker. I am the
+Chairman of the Society for the Suppression of Vice.
+
+STROEBEL [very politely]. Oh, indeed! Pardon me! I didn't recall your
+name immediately, but I was expecting you.
+
+BEERMANN [startled]. You--were expecting--me?
+
+STROEBEL. The Commissioner said that you would undoubtedly call on us.
+
+BEERMANN. He said that I undoubtedly would call? But he never mentioned
+a word to me about that, and I saw him just a moment ago. Perhaps after
+all it will be better if I go down to see him again?
+
+STROEBEL. That is not necessary. I have full charge of the matter.
+
+BEERMANN. Oh, yes, quite right; you have charge of the matter. And you
+have those writings here too?
+
+STROEBEL. The diary? [He indicates the desk.] Here it is.
+
+BEERMANN [peeps anxiously over]. Then it is a regular diary?
+
+STROEBEL. Quite correctly kept. Gives date and names. Even little
+jesting remarks about the people concerned.
+
+BEERMANN [shouts]. But that is an unheard of insolence!
+
+STROEBEL. Yes.
+
+BEERMANN. Why does she write such things? To what purpose? Can't she
+herself realize how dangerous it is? Fancy, a woman whose whole stock in
+trade is secrecy, keeping an address hook of her patrons. Confound her!
+
+STROEBEL. But to us as evidence it is priceless.
+
+BEERMANN. I ask you--why does she record such things?
+
+STROEBEL. We can only be glad of it, Herr Beermann.
+
+BEERMANN. We?
+
+STROEBEL. She'd lie. I tell you she'd deny everything, and that puts an
+end to the case. [Holding the diary in the air.] But here we have the
+whole bunch.
+
+BEERMANN. As though she wanted to turn State's evidence ...
+
+STROEBEL. Let her just come to court with her confounded fine talk.
+[Imitating Hauteville's manners.] "It simply must not have happened." I
+will drive her to the wall with what happened. We will simply bring up
+those fellows, one after the other.
+
+BEERMANN [dismayed]. To court!
+
+STROEBEL. Certainly, and that means; hand on the Bible and swear. Then
+we shall see if "no one compelled anyone to hide in the wardrobe."
+
+BEERMANN. How?
+
+STROEBEL. They will not commit perjury.
+
+BEERMANN. That's utterly impossible!
+
+STROEBEL. I will make it quite warm for that man, in any event.
+
+BEERMANN. But, Counselor!
+
+STROEBEL [clinking heels]. Assessor Stroebel.
+
+BEERMANN. But, Assessor, that is simply impossible. You do not want to
+ruin the family life of the entire city, do you?
+
+STROEBEL. In what way?
+
+BEERMANN. Do you expect a respectable gentleman to appear in court and
+in the presence of all people to say, yes; it is true that I ... and so
+forth?
+
+STROEBEL. Why not?
+
+BEERMANN [shouting]. But they are all respectable fathers of families!
+
+STROEBEL. But, my dear Herr Beermann, what difference does that make to
+me?
+
+BEERMANN. It must make a difference. It makes a difference to everybody
+at all times.
+
+STROEBEL. I assure you that I am not a bit sentimental.
+
+BEERMANN [glancing over to Reisacher]. Could we have a few words
+together, alone?
+
+STROEBEL. If you wish it. Reisacher, finish your police report in the
+outer office.
+
+REISACHER. Certainly, Herr Assessor.
+
+(Takes several sheets of paper and goes out through the middle door.)
+
+STROEBEL. Do have a seat, Herr Beermann.
+
+(Beermann sits down on the sofa. Stroebel does likewise.)
+
+BEERMANN [mopping his brow]. A personal question, Herr Assessor, are you
+married?
+
+STROEBEL. No.
+
+BEERMANN. I thought not. If you had a family you would not speak in that
+fashion of sentimentality.
+
+STROEBEL. If I had a family, I would not, to begin with, be involved in
+this.
+
+BEERMANN. But ...
+
+STROEBEL. My name would not appear in the diary of Hauteville.
+
+BEERMANN. You never can tell.
+
+STROEBEL. Excuse me. What is there left of family life when such things
+happen?
+
+BEERMANN. What do you mean? If nobody finds it out?
+
+STROEBEL. But such a man must live constantly under a deception.
+
+BEERMANN. My dear Assessor. If the white lie ceases in married life, the
+couple drifts apart.
+
+STROEBEL. I cannot believe that!
+
+BEERMANN [persuadingly]. Take my word for it. In every happy marriage
+the parties lie to each other to keep their affection from cooling.
+
+STROEBEL. But both of them remain faithful.
+
+BEERMANN. Not in the least.
+
+STROEBEL. Don't say that!
+
+BEERMANN. Not in the least; anyhow not to the very letter. A husband is
+true to his wife even if he ... and so forth.
+
+STROEBEL. Your views surprise me.
+
+BEERMANN. This is what I mean. He is true in his own fashion. He remains
+kind to his wife, takes a good care of his family, and that is the
+principal thing. That other which you have in mind is only an ideal.
+
+STROEBEL. Ideals are lived up to.
+
+BEERMANN. Well, yes. But if we don't live up to them, we at least
+respect them.
+
+STROEBEL. Herr Beermann, I am astounded. You are the President of the
+Society for the Suppression of Vice?
+
+BEERMANN. Can I help it that I was elected?
+
+STROEBEL. But at least you represent the views of your Society. I
+thought you came here for that reason.
+
+BEERMANN. For what reason?
+
+STROEBEL. To express your satisfaction at our discovery of the business
+of this person.
+
+BEERMANN. You thought I came here on that account?
+
+STROEBEL. Didn't you?
+
+BEERMANN [mopping his brow with his handkerchief]. You'll have to pardon
+me, Herr Assessor; I am still affected by that running up and down
+stairs.
+
+STROEBEL. Perhaps our conversation tires you?
+
+BEERMANN. Don't mention it. I simply cannot follow you so quickly, A
+moment ago you mentioned a diary, didn't you?
+
+STROEBEL. Of this Hauteville woman.--Yes.
+
+BEERMANN. Have you been through this diary?
+
+STROEBEL. No. I have not had time yet.
+
+BEERMANN. But you just spoke about some jesting comments in it.
+
+STROEBEL. Only those I noticed in glancing through it.
+
+BEERMANN [relieved]. Ah!
+
+STROEBEL. Besides, I must tell you, Herr Beermann, that the contents of
+this book must remain a secret to you. My orders are not to show it to
+anyone.
+
+BEERMANN. No, no. I don't want to know anything about it.
+
+STROEBEL. You will find out everything later when the matter comes up in
+court.
+
+BEERMANN [dismayed]. Will it be read there?
+
+STROEBEL. Certainly. To-day I can only tell you that we will proceed
+vigorously. You can satisfy your society on that point.
+
+BEERMANN [rising]. But that doesn't satisfy me at all. Think of the
+consequences.
+
+STROEBEL [rising also]. What do you care about the consequences. Your
+society has its very high aims. Your propaganda states that you will
+prosecute the outcast of society with iron energy and now you see your
+ideals realized.
+
+BEERMANN. Our propaganda states that we will intervene from national,
+moral and social viewpoints, to protect the marriage vows. If this
+scandal becomes public the marriage relationship will be undermined.
+
+STROEBEL. What sort of moral viewpoint do you call that?
+
+BEERMANN. It is the Society's. Don't you understand that the influential
+class of society will be involved!
+
+STROEBEL. Then that class will have only itself to blame.
+
+BEERMANN. That's out of the question. We must find a loop-hole.
+
+STROEBEL. Within the scope of the law there are no loop-holes.
+
+BEERMANN. Don't tell ME that. Well then, go around the law.
+
+STROEBEL [surprised]. Herr Beermann!
+
+BEERMANN. Of course! I have lived long enough to know that.
+
+STROEBEL. I shall do my duty.
+
+BEERMANN. Am I interfering with your duty? I belong to that class of
+people who respect the police only because the police respect our social
+position.
+
+STROEBEL. I appreciate that.
+
+BEERMANN. I also take part in political life. I am a candidate for the
+Reichstag and as such I have a decided opinion about these matters.
+
+STROEBEL. Without doubt, Herr Beermann.
+
+BEERMANN. Well then, there are, in extreme cases, ways around the law,
+and there must be.
+
+STROEBEL. I am of a different opinion.
+
+BEERMANN. God knows, it is not the business of the police to provoke
+this enormous scandal. All authority will be destroyed. It will shatter
+the respect of the masses for the people higher up.
+
+STROEBEL. But this scandal was provoked--[knocking on the diary with his
+finger]--by these very people.
+
+BEERMANN. If a man once in a while goes into a certain room--that is no
+scandal. It only becomes a scandal when the story is made known to every
+Tom, Dick and Harry. That's what must be prevented!
+
+STROEBEL. I value the humane motive which evidently is prompting you,
+Herr Beermann. But you must admit that we are acting entirely in accord
+with the views of the classes you mention.
+
+BEERMANN. You are not!
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, we are. Two weeks ago the good people here founded a
+Society because they felt it was necessary to proceed more severely
+against public immorality ...
+
+BEERMANN.... Against immorality in the lower strata where it easily
+degenerates into licentiousness. As the President of this Society, I, at
+least ought to know what was intended.
+
+STROEBEL. Even Frau Hochstetter belongs to the lower strata. If we are
+now stepping on anybody's corns, I am very sorry....
+
+BEERMANN. The police have no business to do anything they will be sorry
+for later on. Good Lord, had the Commissioner only listened to me. An
+affair like this should not be treated in such a purely business-like
+way.
+
+STROEBEL. The Commissioner can only tell you the same thing. He cannot
+change the law.
+
+BEERMANN. Anything can be done.
+
+STROEBEL. Not at this stage. We could probably have prevented it had we
+known that this case would have such far-reaching consequences, but now
+here are the proofs. [Pointing to the diary.] No one in the world can
+destroy them, not even the Commissioner.
+
+BEERMANN. Then what do you propose to do with them?
+
+STROEBEL. They are going down to the District Attorney's office. The
+avalanche is on its way.
+
+BEERMANN. And we have simply to wait and watch what it hits? (Telephone
+bell rings.)
+
+STROEBEL. Pardon me a moment.
+
+(Goes to the right to the telephone. While Stroebel is answering the
+telephone, and has his back to Beermann the latter crosses to the desk
+and tries to look into the diary. Timidly he opens it several times but
+shuts it again quickly, when he fears that Stroebel will turn around.)
+
+STROEBEL [answering the telephone]. Police Department.... Assessor
+Stroebel speaking. Who is this please ... yes, this is Assessor
+Stroebel.... Yes, Commissioner ... [pause] I understand you, I will
+remain in the office ... Yes, I examined the Hochstetter woman.... Yes,
+this Madame Hauteville [pause] I will remain in the office until you
+call.... Yes, Commissioner. Good-bye. [He hangs up the receiver.]
+
+BEERMANN [Energetically closes the book and tries to appear
+indifferent.]
+
+STROEBEL. Now you can convince yourself, Herr Beermann, the Commissioner
+himself is following up this matter. He wants to have another conference
+with me about it to-day.
+
+BEERMANN. Am I to wait helplessly until the catastrophe happens?
+
+STROEBEL. You must be consistent....
+
+BEERMANN. It is possible that my best friends, acquaintances or
+relatives are involved ...
+
+STROEBEL. You must remain consistent. Doesn't this splendidly justify
+the founding of your Society?
+
+BEERMANN [in a rage]. Oh, leave me alone with your stupid Vice Society.
+Are we not all human, after all!
+
+STROEBEL. I do not understand you.
+
+BEERMANN. Do you realize what severe pangs of conscience I suffer? Last
+night as I pictured to myself all that is about to happen, all these
+family misfortunes, I asked myself this question: What really is
+morality? And ... I could not find the answer.
+
+STROEBEL. Although you are ...
+
+BEERMANN. Although I am Chairman of the Society for the Suppression of
+Vice, yes, sir. Then I asked myself this: which is the more important:
+that we are moral, or that we seem moral?
+
+STROEBEL. Have you found the answer?
+
+BEERMANN. I have. I have become fully convinced that it is far more
+important for the people to believe in our morality.
+
+STROEBEL. But you didn't need a Society for that.
+
+BEERMANN. Yes, we did. Just to be moral is something that I can
+accomplish in my room by myself, but that has no educational value. The
+important thing is to ally one's self publicly with moral issues. This
+has a beneficial effect on the family and state.
+
+STROEBEL. I daresay that this side of the question has not occurred to
+me.
+
+BEERMANN. Just consider. Morality holds exactly the same position as
+religion. We must always create the impression that there is such a
+thing and we must make each other believe that each of us have it. Do
+you suppose for one moment that religion would last if the church dealt
+publicly with our sins? But she forgives them quietly. The State ought
+to be just as shrewd.
+
+STROEBEL. Many a thing you say seems quite true.
+
+BEERMANN. It is true, you can depend upon it.
+
+STROEBEL. Theoretically perhaps. But that does not change it one bit.
+As long as the law prescribes it, these offenses [pointing to the diary]
+must be dealt with publicly.
+
+BEERMANN. Although you know that thus public decency will be undermined.
+[Stroebel shrugs his shoulders.] Although the State will suffer by it?
+
+STROEBEL [again shrugs his shoulders]. Well ...
+
+BEERMANN. The Administration knows very well the sort of conservative
+element there is in the Society for the Suppression of Vice.
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, and values it highly.
+
+BEERMANN. Let us suppose--I do not know if it be so--but let us just
+suppose that only one member of the Society once had a weak little
+moment and his name were in this book ...
+
+STROEBEL [energetically]. Then he would be summoned to court without
+regard or mercy.
+
+BEERMANN. And the whole Society would be made ridiculous and would go up
+in the air.
+
+STROEBEL [shrugs his shoulders]. Well ...
+
+BEERMANN [shouts]. That is the height of folly, I tell you!
+
+STROEBEL [instructively]. It is the fulfilment of our duty. You are a
+layman. With you sentiments play an important part. We, the police, on
+the other hand are compelled to sacrifice our feelings to our duty.
+
+BEERMANN [holding his hands to his ears]. Oh, stop that!
+
+STROEBEL. Official duty blocks our way.
+
+BEERMANN [angrily]. But even a jackass can jump over blocks.
+
+STROEBEL [offended]. Her? Beermann, I did not hear that remark.
+
+BEERMANN. Let me tell you something! Do you know what we have been doing
+for the past three weeks? ... Talking ourselves hoarse in order to bring
+about an election friendly to the present administration. For the
+past three weeks it has been nothing but Fatherland, and the state and
+religion! And this is your gratitude! In the devil's own name--just
+picture it to yourself--a man who has been fighting the opposition in
+thirty different political meetings might be involved in this.
+
+STROEBEL [shrugs his shoulders]. What can I do?
+
+BEERMANN. Is the Administration going to deliver him over to his
+opponents?
+
+STROEBEL. We would be very sorry for him, but we would have to summon
+him to court.
+
+BEERMANN. Without regard or mercy--? [Telephone bell rings loudly.]
+
+STROEBEL. Pardon me for a moment. [Stroebel goes to the telephone
+and this time he turns completely around so that his back is toward
+Beermann.] Police Department ... yes ... Commissioner; this is Stroebel
+at the telephone.... [Short pause.] When she was arrested? ... When
+she was arrested there was Lieutenant Schmuttermaier and an officer....
+[Short pause.] Just one policeman ... [Pause.] ... Yes, Commissioner
+[short pause] I should tell that Lieutenant [short interruption] jackass
+Schmuttermaier to come over to the office immediately.... [Short
+pause.] I shall wait for you until you come.... Yes, Commissioner.
+(During this telephone conversation Beermann steps near to the desk.
+With a shaking hand he takes up the diary but quickly puts it down
+again. Then he picks it up again and with a rapid and energetic movement
+puts it into his breast pocket. Stroebel with a rebuked demeanor goes
+from the telephone to the desk. Beermann turns around so that Stroebel
+cannot see his face. He is disturbed and coughs in order to hide his
+embarrassment. Stroebel presses a button on Reisacher's desk.)
+
+BEERMANN [while coughing]. I realize now that nothing more can be done.
+I shan't take up your time.
+
+STROEBEL [anxiously]. No, no, please remain. The Commissioner himself
+will be here in a moment. Then you may talk to him.
+
+BEERMANN. But you just told me that there was no use waiting....
+[Reisacher enters through center door.]
+
+STROEBEL [urgently to Reisacher]. Reisacher, go and look for Lieutenant
+Schmuttermaier immediately. If he is not in the building, send to
+his home or telephone for him. Leave word that he must come over
+immediately.
+
+REISACHER. Yes, Herr Assessor.
+
+[Goes out quickly through center door.]
+
+BEERMANN. You said yourself that there would be no use. I guess I'd
+better go.
+
+STROEBEL [perturbed]. But do wait for the Commissioner.
+
+BEERMANN. There is no use in my waiting. I ... I did all I could ...
+there seems to be no use ... well then.... Good-bye!
+
+[About to go through door on left but the door is quickly opened and
+the Commissioner appears with Baron Schmettau. The former holds the door
+open for the Baron. After they have come in, he shuts the door.]
+
+COMMISSIONER [to the Baron]. If you please, Herr Baron.... [To
+Beermann]. Ah ... here is our President of the Society for the
+Suppression of Vice. [Beermann bows slightly--Commissioner continuing
+contemptuously.] Well, have you accomplished your mission? [Beermann
+nods.] Are you satisfied with this arrest or would you like to have us
+do more? [Angrily.] Once for all, Sir, I forbid you to meddle with the
+affairs of this office. You can preach your principles wherever else
+you like, but here I will stand for no interference. [Beermann timidly
+creeps along the wall, and bows himself out.] [Commissioner to Baron
+Schmettau.] Whenever the police bungle anything, look for reformers.
+
+SCHMETTAU. [with a glance at Stroebel]. Will you introduce me?
+
+COMMISSIONER. Assessor Stroebel,--Freiherr von Schmettau, Adjutant to
+his Highness, Prince Emil. [Stroebel clicks his heels together and bows
+deeply. Schmettau thanks him curtly.]
+
+COMMISSIONER [sharply]. Herr Assessor, I have asked Herr Baron Schmettau
+to come with me in order that in his presence I might correct a pitiable
+lack of tact, which to my regret, and contrary to all my intentions, was
+perpetrated by Lieutenant Schmuttermaier.
+
+SCHMETTAU. It was abominable.
+
+COMMISSIONER. What orders did that man have?
+
+STROEBEL [nervously]. Do you mean in the case of Hochstetter,
+Commissioner?
+
+COMMISSIONER. Yes, sir, Madame de Hauteville, Who made the raid on her
+apartment?
+
+STROEBEL. The raid?
+
+COMMISSIONER. I hope before you arrested her you informed yourself
+exactly with whom you were dealing.
+
+STROEBEL. Certainly ...
+
+COMMISSIONER.... And the result?
+
+STROEBEL. I ascertained that this woman was violating public decency.
+
+COMMISSIONER. I am going to ask you, Assessor, as my inferior in
+office, to confine yourself to more direct answers, PLEASE. What did the
+investigation disclose?
+
+STROEBEL. That she received questionable visits from gentlemen.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Questionable? Then does Schmuttermaier know who these
+gentlemen were?
+
+STROEBEL. He does not ...
+
+COMMISSIONER. No? Didn't he investigate a matter which seemed so
+questionable to him?
+
+STROEBEL. He just wanted to ascertain that these visits were meant for
+Hauteville.
+
+COMMISSIONER. So--? I have some truly competent officials. And who and
+what it was did not bother the man at all?
+
+STROEBEL. I myself thought that that would be found out later.
+
+COMMISSIONER. There are certain things in the world you would not be
+likely to look for and less likely to find. You have been treating this
+thing as though you were dealing with a common ordinary pickpocket. [To
+Baron Sckmettau.] You see it is just as I told you ... the man did
+not have the slightest idea.... [To Stroebel.] Did this fellow,
+Schmuttermaier, see anyone in the flat or did he hear if anyone was
+there?
+
+STROEBEL. No, Commissioner.
+
+COMMISSIONER [to Baron Schmettau]. It is just as I told you....
+
+STROEBEL. Furthermore, I have heard since that there was somebody in the
+apartment.
+
+COMMISSIONER [quickly]. Who?
+
+STROEBEL. That, I have been unable to find out yet, but Hauteville made
+several insinuations as though someone had been hidden in a wardrobe.
+
+COMMISSIONER.[to Baron Schmettau]. To be sure--someone--was--To my
+profoundest regret, His Highness, our beloved Hereditary Prince Emil.
+
+STROEBEL [crushed]. I ... didn't have the slightest idea ...
+
+COMMISSIONER. You people ought to have an idea once in a while. If this
+Schmuttermaier had any ability, it would not have happened. But it is
+the old story, not a trace of independent ability and tact.
+
+STROEBEL. I don't know what apology I can offer.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Neither do I. Besides Herr Baron Schmettau himself was
+obliged to go through this very unpleasant incident.
+
+SCHMETTAU. [Schmettau speaks very precisely but puts a slight emphasis
+on his s.] I was completely dumfounded. I cannot understand how it could
+happen. Just picture it ... Lord knows ... I was and am of the opinion
+that our young Highness must learn to know life. Faith, it is not my
+business to act as his pastor....
+
+COMMISSIONER. If you please, Herr Baron, that goes without saying....
+
+SCHMETTAU. That of course is merely my opinion. I am a man of the world
+and of affairs. I consider it fitting that his Highness should learn to
+know life....
+
+COMMISSIONER. But I entirely share your opinion.
+
+SCHMETTAU. A moment ago the word "decency" was used. In my position I
+can listen to such words from the pulpit, but outside of the church I
+deem them entirely out of place.
+
+COMMISSIONER [to Assessor]. You used that expression.
+
+SCHMETTAU. If anyone wants to claim that my bearing is not a proper one,
+he will have to prove it with a revolver in his hand.
+
+STROEBEL. I did not think that the word would offend you.
+
+SCHMETTAU. It did offend me. Such expressions are fitting in an asylum
+for feeble-minded people. They should never be used to characterize the
+recreation of Cavaliers.
+
+COMMISSIONER. May I put in a good word for my Assessor? It certainly was
+not his intention to offend you.
+
+SCHMETTAU. It was not his intention. [To the Assessor.] Then I will
+assume that it was never said. [The Assessor clicks his heels.] I am
+somewhat nettled but you cannot be surprised at that. You can imagine
+with what care I undertook this task. This Madame de Hauteville was
+recommended to me by reliable parties. She has good manners and does not
+talk.
+
+COMMISSIONER. In her way, she certainly seems a very decent person.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Absolutely. Since it was my belief that His Highness
+must learn to know life, I could not find a better place. [To the
+Commissioner.] We understand each other?
+
+COMMISSIONER. Certainly.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Every guarantee against vulgarity; everything tip-top.
+Now picture it to yourself. I do all a man possibly can and this
+inconceivably awful scandal happens.
+
+COMMISSIONER. It is the old story. These people have no tact.
+
+SCHMETTAU. That doesn't help me any. I am not trying to mix in your
+business. That never occurred to me. But this does not help me one bit.
+The whole blame attaches to me. I simply will be told that such things
+should not have happened. That is an unheard of business.
+
+COMMISSIONER [to Assessor]. For which you are to blame.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Had I a suspicion that this was contemplated, I would have
+informed you.
+
+COMMISSIONER. If you only had!
+
+SCHMETTAU. Who would think of such things? We all take it for granted
+that the police first of all respect protection!
+
+STROEBEL. On my word of honor Herr Baron. Not even in my dreams did I
+think of an occurrence like this.
+
+SCHMETTAU. [squares his shoulders]. Is it so difficult for you to think?
+
+COMMISSIONER. That's just what I say. If a man knows his work thoroughly
+these things come to him. But people who are interested in the uplift
+movements are always in the clouds.
+
+SCHMETTAU. This Lieutenant or whatever that fellow was, behaved as
+though he was collecting material for a socialist newspaper. His
+Highness was hardly in the house five minutes when there was a loud
+ringing. Then, someone in heavy shoes ran up against the door like a
+drunken sailor. Madame de Hauteville breaks into the room and cries,
+"Your Highness, how unfortunate I am. The police are here," she says.
+"Leave them alone," I say, "they will go away presently." "Impossible,"
+she says, "I can never permit His Highness to be found by the police in
+my place. I will take the blame upon myself entirely." Fancy the tact of
+that woman! "Impossible," she says, "that His Highness should be caught
+in my place."
+
+COMMISSIONER. Really, very decent!
+
+SCHMETTAU. Indeed it is. Immediately it dawns on me that she is right.
+The situation is getting terrible. That policeman is likely to demand
+His Highness' identification. What shall we do? Madame says, "For
+Heaven's sake hide in the wardrobe!" Outside, that fool is making
+quite a rumpus. He knocks, rings, shouts and barks. The neighborhood is
+getting aroused and heads are popping out from right and left and in the
+midst of this terrible commotion, there we stand--Highness and I. What
+shall we do? A few moments later, His Highness is cramped beside me in
+the wardrobe, in between different pieces of woman's apparel. With great
+difficulty we are able to draw our breath.
+
+STROEBEL. If I had only had an inkling about it.
+
+COMMISSIONER [angrily]. The police are expected to grasp conditions.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Then what followed? In heavy-nailed shoes the men go from
+room to room. Doors are opened and slammed. The fellows use loud and
+coarse language, and three or four times they stand in front of the
+wardrobe. Upon my word, I actually feel how His Highness is perspiring.
+Just picture to yourself the situation if that brute had opened the
+closet! Just picture that and you can realize how much courage I had!
+
+COMMISSIONER. You must have suffered terribly.
+
+SCHMETTAU. What I suffered does not matter. In such moments one does not
+think of anything else but Highness. What an outrage! Finally the steps
+disappear. Madame Hauteville, who throughout behaved most decently and
+whose conduct was above reproach, is led away and Highness and I can
+leave the wardrobe where we spent an entire twenty minutes. And now I
+ask again, "How can such mistakes happen?"
+
+COMMISSIONER [to Assessor]. You shall find the answer to this.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Upstairs the woman is still in her cell. The newspapers are
+full of the scandal, and Highness suffers agonies when he realizes the
+possibilities which can develop at any moment.
+
+COMMISSIONER. Herr Baron, you need not worry any longer. Now I am taking
+the matter entirely into my hands. [Consulting his watch, he speaks with
+affected calmness.] It is now a quarter to one. This evening at eight
+o'clock Madame de Hauteville will be set free and everything will be so
+arranged that her discharge will arouse no suspicion.
+
+STROEBEL. But how are you going to do it ...?
+
+COMMISSIONER. The details of this arrangement are your affair.
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT III
+
+
+(Beermann's library. Elegantly furnished. A desk is backed up against a
+large bay-window on the right. Opposite is a large book-case, and next
+to this a sofa. A long double door with small French panes somewhat
+to the left. On the left of stage a small table and a few comfortable
+leather chairs. On the right a simple door.
+
+Beermann enters through the middle door. He goes to the desk, unlocks a
+drawer and takes out the diary of Hauteville. He looks carefully about
+him, then picks out a volume of an encyclopedia from the book-case,
+opens it quickly and places the diary inside. He seats himself and
+begins to read. At this moment the center door is opened slowly, and
+Frau Beermann stands on the threshold.)
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Are you alone, Fritz?
+
+BEERMANN [frightened, slams the book so that the diary is concealed in
+it]. Goodness, you did frighten me!
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I did not know how nervous you were until yesterday.
+
+BEERMANN. Oh, what, nervous? I am over-worked and irritable. Every
+single day, I have to prepare a new speech.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Is it in that work that I disturbed you? Pardon me.
+
+BEERMANN. Do you want anything?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I just wanted to have a few serious words with you.
+
+BEERMANN. But not necessarily at this moment. To-morrow or ...
+
+EFFIE. [opening the glass door, calls in]. Oh, papa, did you forget?
+
+BEERMANN [uneasily]. Forget what?
+
+EFFIE. [entering]. Weren't we to see the Indian dancer to-day?
+
+BEERMANN. Well, it can't be done to-day.
+
+EFFIE. That's a shame; I wanted so much to see her and to-night is her
+last appearance.
+
+BEERMANN. Then we will wait until the next one comes along.
+
+EFFIE. I don't see why just we have to have this bad luck.
+
+BEERMANN [with emphasis]. Because I have more important things to do
+than to watch your hop, skip and jump.
+
+EFFIE. [jolly]. Oh, aren't you cranky?
+
+BEERMANN. I am not at all disposed for such nonsense.
+
+EFFIE. [going over to the desk, picks up the volume of the
+encyclopedia.] All this comes from your politics; now I will simply
+confiscate your ammunition.
+
+BEERMANN [excited]. Give me that book.
+
+EFFIE. [jumping away]. No, no, papa, you will only get sick.
+
+BEERMANN [shouts]. I forbid these stupid jokes. Put that book down.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. What is the matter?
+
+BEERMANN. I never could tolerate disobedient children, that's all.
+
+EFFIE. [placing the book on the desk]. Oh, pardon me, papa.
+
+BEERMANN [grasps the volume tightly and places it in the book-case]. All
+fooling has its limits; don't forget that.
+
+EFFIE. Now I suppose as a punishment, we can't see the dancer.
+
+BEERMANN. Really I would rather go with you than--sit here, but it is
+absolutely impossible.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Go now, darling; I must talk to papa alone.
+
+BEERMANN. But I haven't the time.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [positively]. That much of it you have.
+
+EFFIE. Good-bye, papa dear. [Goes out.]
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [Seats herself on the sofa next to the book-case. Beermann
+stands leaning with his back against the desk. Through the large window
+the evening sun can be seen so that Beermann's face is in its light,
+while Frau Beermann sits in the half-dusk.]
+
+BEERMANN. Lena dear, do we really have ...?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. We do.
+
+BEERMANN. Can't it be postponed?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I have postponed it many a year, but now it is high time.
+
+BEERMANN. [disturbed]. Many a year? What are you referring to?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I have a request to make to you.
+
+BEERMANN. With pleasure....
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Don't make a laughing-stock of your family.
+
+BEERMANN. In what way?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Don't make a laughing stock of your family, I beg you.
+
+BEERMANN. Please don't talk in riddles.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. These are not very great riddles to you.
+
+BEERMANN. Speak plainly, won't you?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. No. I am not going to speak more plainly.
+
+BEERMANN. As your husband, I demand it.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. N-no.
+
+BEERMANN. That is very sad. There should be no secrets at all between
+husband and wife.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Is this a principle again? Fancy all these great secrets!
+[Beermann shrugs his shoulders.] No. Now take it for granted that I know
+a thing or two about you.
+
+BEERMANN [with anxiety]. You?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Several things. Some which you must know only too well.
+After all, that principle of yours has not been violated. There remain
+no secrets whatever between us.
+
+BEERMANN. I assure you I shall not rack my brains about it.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Nor would I want you to regard me as sitting in judgment
+on your acts.
+
+BEERMANN [with a false pathos]. Instead of telling me freely and frankly
+of the gossip you have heard about me; then I could defend myself.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. That is just what I want to avoid. To me it appears
+somewhat childish when a man tries to justify ...
+
+BEERMANN [just as before]. In this manner, the lowest gossip can destroy
+the happiness of any family.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [seriously]. Fritz, really, there is no one listening to
+us just now.
+
+BEERMANN. You are not taking me in earnest.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. No, and it is our good fortune that I am not. At least,
+my good fortune.
+
+BEERMANN. You call that good fortune? I might have expected something
+different from you.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. No, sir, you did not. If you will be honest with me, you
+will admit that. This many a year, we have been playing a common farce.
+You acted the true Christian head of the family and I the all-believing
+audience.
+
+BEERMANN. How nice!
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Not nice but it's true. Perhaps the fault is not entirely
+ours, for we learned it from our parents. You men are supposed to
+impress us with your greatness and we women are to stand by and admire.
+
+BEERMANN. Do you find that impossible?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Even the best Christian family principles must have some
+foundation. What was I supposed to admire?
+
+BEERMANN. You ask that now?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Perhaps I gave it up sooner than others. But that is due
+to our relationship. We were always together. Where is a man to get pose
+and character enough to last him for twenty-four hours every day?
+
+BEERMANN. So that is about your conception of our married life?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. That is it exactly.
+
+BEERMANN. And after all the years ...
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I acquired it rather early.
+
+BEERMANN. Now, after twenty-six years you declare that you are unhappy.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. No, Fritz, it has not led us to unhappiness. There has
+been no sudden shattering of an ideal. Our marriage was not an ideal
+and ... don't feel offended ... your personality was never so immaculate,
+that one stain more or less would spoil the effect.
+
+BEERMANN [excited]. But there must be some sort of reason back of all
+these reproaches?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. If you think them reproaches, then we do not understand
+each other.
+
+BEERMANN. What else are they?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I meant it merely as a request. Do not bring your family
+into ridicule.
+
+BEERMANN. You are playing hide and seek all the time. In what way am I
+likely to do that?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. With your moral priesthood to which you have absolutely
+no right.
+
+BEERMANN. No right?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Not the slightest one. But you are creating enemies who
+will make a laughing-stock of us all, if they find out certain things.
+Those things can be found out whether we like it or not.
+
+BEERMANN [forced laughter]. Lena dear, I believe you are jealous.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN [quietly]. Jealous, of what? [Short pause.] I hope that
+you credit me with at least good taste enough not to be jealous of my
+so-called right, and ... otherwise what can I lose? No, Fritz, I am not
+jealous. [Short pause, it is getting darker.] I had to get accustomed
+to it; that's true. This secrecy, the petty lies and the false gravity
+irritated me a little bit too much at first, but I made an effort so
+that I could still retain a feeling of comradeship. I overcame it daily,
+because--well because I never really took you seriously. [Pause.]
+
+BEERMANN [with, a false pathos]. Lena, dear, do you realize what things
+you are saying?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Yes, fully.
+
+BEERMANN [as above]. That is dreadful. Every word is a ... catastrophe!
+I have until today, I have until this hour, believed in our established
+quiet happiness. Now shall all this pass away?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Nothing but your confidence in my blindness shall pass
+away.
+
+BEERMANN. Think it over. There can be no real family life after people
+lose faith in each other.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Oh, a person gets used even to that.
+
+BEERMANN. No. Lena, listen. Someone has been telling you tales and I
+cannot defend myself, because I don't know what I am accused of. You
+must tell me everything right now. I demand it of you.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. If I wanted to do that, I would have to begin "many, many
+years ago ..."
+
+BEERMANN. Well, why didn't you do it then?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. You can well understand, I had my reasons.
+
+BEERMANN. For such silence there can be no reasons.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I could shut my eyes and remain silent. That was my
+privilege. But if I had spoken out and permitted you to appease me ...
+no, that was something beyond me. To do that I would have been obliged
+to lie and for that I, for one, have not the ability. [Beermann makes a
+motion.] No, do not interrupt me. These things will have no consequences
+as long as I do not wish them to, but if I should name them, then they
+would have.
+
+BEERMANN. Then shall I let this suspicion rest upon me?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Yes.
+
+BEERMANN. How coldly you speak. If what you suspect were true, you could
+not be so indifferent about it.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Do the by-laws of your society prescribe that in cases
+like these the wife shall be unhappy?
+
+BEERMANN. Imagine! The many years that you and I have lived together and
+you had these suspicions right along and never said a word about them.
+Why do you speak today?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Because you have reached the point where our friendship
+for one another may break. Everything I see and hear from you now hurts
+me. You speak in a tone of strictness, which must be unpleasant even to
+you. For weeks past there has been nothing around me but lies. What you
+say to me, all that you say to the children, and what you preached here
+publicly last night. Every word hurts my ears and urges me to contradict
+you; I am silent and by doing that I endorse your lies.
+
+BEERMANN. But, Lena ...
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. Finally when your every glance is artificial, each motion
+of yours is a pose. Then it is unbearable. Add to that my anxiety for
+our children. How shall they still retain faith in us, if through an
+accident their eyes are opened? I had remained silent all this time for
+their sake and now you are inviting the whole world to speak. I cannot
+continue to live this life of worry and hypocrisy. All that I have
+already overcome awakens again and appears to me more ugly than ever
+before. I do not know if I can still believe in your good fellowship and
+remain your friend. [She rises and goes slowly to the door.]
+
+BEERMANN. I do not seem to know you any more. During our entire married
+life, you have not spoken as seriously as in the last fifteen minutes.
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. That perhaps was my great mistake. But I have paid for
+it. [She opens the door.]
+
+BEERMANN. Lena dear, have you nothing further to tell me?
+
+FRAU BEERMANN. I just beg of you; do not bring your family into
+ridicule. [Exit.]
+
+BEERMANN [For a while remains standing; lost in thought; then he turns
+on the electric light, sighing, goes over to the bookcase, takes out the
+volume of the encyclopedia wherein the diary of Madams de Hauteville is
+hidden, opens it and reads standing. A knock on the door. Frightened, he
+quickly hides the diary in his side pocket.]
+
+BEERMANN. Come in. [Justizrat Hauser enters on the left.]
+
+HAUSER. Lord; good evening.
+
+BEERMANN [hurrying toward him]. Lord; how glad I am that you have come.
+
+HAUSER. Has anything happened?
+
+BEERMANN. N ... no.
+
+HAUSER. I received your message that you must see me tonight without
+fail.
+
+BEERMANN. Yes, I was at your house twice.
+
+HAUSER. Unfortunately, I was not there. [He has taken off his overcoat
+and is laying it on a chair.] Tell me, you seem to me all upset.
+
+BEERMANN. I am upset.
+
+HAUSER. I suppose that is why you sent for me. Well, then, what is it?
+
+BEERMANN. Have a seat, please. [They sit down to the left on the sofa.]
+I must begin a little way back.... Have a cigar? [He goes over to the
+humidor, takes out a box of cigars and offers it to Hauser, who takes
+one.] I must begin a little way back ... Can you remember the subject we
+discussed last night?
+
+HAUSER. The genuinely righteous moral life? [He lights his cigar.] Of
+course, I remember it. Such sermons are not easily forgotten.
+
+BEERMANN. Do you know I got the impression that you have a rather
+liberal viewpoint.
+
+HAUSER. Liberal?
+
+BEERMANN. I mean that you are not a prude.
+
+HAUSER. I am an old lawyer, you know, and just out of sheer habit
+contradict people. I made myself blacker than I actually am. So, if you
+have scruples on my account ...
+
+BEERMANN. I merely mentioned it because you understand life and I
+must speak to someone who judges more liberally than our narrow minded
+bourgeois.
+
+HAUSER. More liberally than you judged last night?
+
+BEERMANN. I was overzealous, but don't let us talk about it. I want
+to ask you for advice. [Short pause.] You lawyers are bound to respect
+professional secrets?
+
+HAUSER. We must respect them.
+
+BEERMANN. What I am about to tell you, you will probably find most
+astounding, but it is to be considered absolutely confidential. Even
+though your client confesses a crime, you are not permitted to divulge
+the information?
+
+HAUSER. What a careful criminal you are!
+
+BEERMANN. It is possible that you will find this information most
+unpleasant.
+
+HAUSER [Bends and talks in a low voice]. Now don't worry about me,
+Beermann. I will know how to protect your interests. The law gives me
+the right to remain silent in any event.
+
+BEERMANN. Well then ... [nervously runs his fingers through his hair]
+I really have to begin a little way back. The last few days I have been
+thinking a great deal about monogamy. I am surely the last person to
+doubt the high moral value of the marriage vow, but there is something
+to be said on the other side. It is indeed a very ticklish theme to
+discuss.
+
+HAUSER. Suppose then that we skip the prologue and the few opening
+chapters and start at once with the affair of Madame Hauteville.
+
+BEERMANN. How do you know ...?
+
+HAUSER. I suspected. You probably are not the first one who has come to
+confess to me. Since last night many consciences have been jolted. So
+you, too, belong to that crowd?
+
+BEERMANN. You ask yourself how such things are possible?
+
+HAUSER. No, sir, I never ask myself such stupid questions.
+
+BEERMANN. You have always believed that an undisturbed happiness
+prevailed in my family.
+
+HAUSER [quickly]. Beermann, I resent that! Do not try to make yourself
+interesting.
+
+BEERMANN. Don't take it the wrong way. I am not blaming anybody. I just
+want to ...
+
+HAUSER. You even want to find moral justification for your immorality.
+
+BEERMANN. I know well enough that it is unjustifiable. I have been
+saying that to myself a hundred thousand times. Do not think that I
+overcame my principles so easily.
+
+HAUSER. All you had to overcome was your timidity.
+
+BEERMANN [sighing deeply]. If you only knew.
+
+HAUSER. Of course you did not land on the primrose path with both feet,
+but you climbed carefully over the fence--just as befits a man of your
+embonpoint.
+
+BEERMANN. I expected something better from you than mere mocking.
+
+HAUSER. What do you want me to do? Shall I weep because you have sinned?
+Why? What good would it do you? That is the way of your kind. As long
+as no one has proofs against you, your virtue must always be under the
+spotlight, but the very minute you trip up, some peculiar background
+of justification ought to be invented for the smallest sin. No, my dear
+friend. The world's moral system will not go to pieces just because you
+slipped and broke your nose.
+
+BEERMANN. You cannot realize what suffering you are inflicting upon me
+right now.
+
+HAUSER. Now please don't make long speeches. You did not call me here to
+grant you absolution. You want me to help you to quash this affair.
+
+BEERMANN [jumps up quickly from his chair]. Yes, you must do that. Good
+Lord, I beg you. I am in a terrible position. You have not the slightest
+idea how nervous I am.
+
+HAUSER. Will you please sit down and stop exaggerating?
+
+BEERMANN [sits down]. No man living can have sufficient imagination to
+enlarge on this. Imagine it! Any moment the police are likely to come
+here and arrest me.
+
+HAUSER [seriously]. Have you been carrying on so badly at Hauteville's?
+
+BEERMANN. No. Not there. That is not worth while mentioning.
+
+HAUSER. Why then do you fear the police? That's all nonsense. Now just
+consider everything quietly and calmly. By the way, has your wife any
+suspicions ...?
+
+BEERMANN. Of this affair? I don't think so. She has just a general
+one ... but what's the use of bothering with trifles! You know that this
+stupid woman kept a diary, and that they found it in her apartment.
+
+HAUSER. Assuredly I know it. Without that diary we would not have so
+many penitents in the City.
+
+BEERMANN. Imagine my position. I know positively that my name is in that
+book. It means that I am simply done for by the cursed thing.
+
+HAUSER. Is it so certain that your name is in the book?
+
+BEERMANN [loudly]. Yes, sir.
+
+HAUSER. It may be possible that ...
+
+BEERMANN. It is not at all possible. My name is there. Shall I quietly
+sit and wait until I am ruined? You know that I would be ruined if
+it became public. Fancy, I, the candidate for the Reichstag; I, the
+President of the Society for the Suppression of Vice! All the papers
+would be full of it.
+
+HAUSER. Oh, yes, it would be quite interesting.
+
+BEERMANN. Then think of the consequences here in the City! In the
+family! Why, I would be killed outright! Lord, how I tried to hammer it
+into the head of that stupid man in the Police Department so he could
+understand what terrible mischief this will make.
+
+HAUSER [frightened]. You went to Police Headquarters?
+
+BEERMANN. Of course, I was there.
+
+HAUSER. Did you confess?
+
+BEERMANN. How can you suppose that? [Sits down again.] I spoke for
+the others. I explained to the official that he is showing up the
+influential element; that he is injuring the established order of
+society,--but [he touches his forehead with his palm] that fellow has
+nothing but police ordinances in his head.
+
+HAUSER. Shouting will not help us a bit. Remain cool and collected. One
+thing is important, at this moment. Has the diary reached the District
+Attorney's office?
+
+BEERMANN. No, it has not.
+
+HAUSER. Well, as long as it remains in the Police Department there are
+still possibilities.
+
+BEERMANN. It is not in the Police Department either.
+
+HAUSER. Of course it is there. Where else should it be?
+
+BEERMANN [indicating his side pocket]. Here.
+
+HAUSER [amazed]. What?
+
+BEERMANN [takes the diary out of his side pocket and places it on the
+table]. Here it is.
+
+HAUSER. So, this is the celebrated diary of Madame Hauteville. [Beermann
+nods.] Who gave it to you?
+
+BEERMANN. Nobody. I just took it.
+
+HAUSER. You mean; you sto ...
+
+BEERMANN.... Stole it, yes, sir.
+
+HAUSER [pulls back his chair and breaks into a loud laugh]. You did
+that! [He laughs.] ... Say, that's pretty good. Now I am beginning to
+respect you. Confound it, I would never have given you credit for a
+stunt like this. [He laughs and slaps his knee.]
+
+BEERMANN. Laugh, while I am dying of fright.
+
+HAUSER. Don't spoil my good impression of you! I am on the point of
+admiring you. [He laughs again.] Let me apologize. I always held you as
+a wishy-washy bourgeois and now you go and pull this thing off.
+
+BEERMANN. You had better give me some advice. I have not had a quiet
+moment since I took the book. I want to destroy it but how can I? If I
+tear it up the pieces will be found.
+
+HAUSER. Burn it.
+
+BEERMANN. Where? There is no fire in the house, except in the kitchen
+range. If I hide it, I shall always have to run to and fro to see if it
+is there, and I feel less safe if I have it on my person. Then I have
+always a feeling as though that thing were bulging out my pocket; and
+the police must be missing it by this time.
+
+HAUSER. Oh, tear out the page on which your name appears and send it
+back anonymously.
+
+BEERMANN. Impossible. My name appears on almost every second page.
+
+HAUSER. Oh ... so.
+
+BEERMANN. What shall I do when the police ask me for the book?
+
+HAUSER. There is only one way; you know nothing about it.
+
+BEERMANN. But they will be dead certain that I have it.
+
+HAUSER. Remain firm. For Heaven's sake don't fall into the trap that by
+confessing you will improve this fine job. [A loud and prolonged ringing
+of the electric bell is heard.]
+
+BEERMANN [frightened, exclaims]. There, do you hear that?
+
+HAUSER. Some visitor, I suppose.
+
+BEERMANN. This is no time to make visits. [Anxiously picking up the
+diary.] What shall I do with the damned thing? [Takes out a volume of
+the encyclopedia and wants to hide the diary in it but hesitates, and
+then puts the volume back on the shelf.] Lord, where shall I put it?
+
+HAUSER. Come, give it to me.
+
+BEERMANN [Gives him the book and Hauser puts it in his side pocket.]
+
+HAUSER. No one will search me for it.
+
+BEERMANN. Stay here with me ... please.
+
+HAUSER. If it gives you any pleasure, yes; but man alive, pull yourself
+together. Suppose it really were the police; you are trembling all over.
+[A knock on the door.]
+
+BEERMANN [crouching]. Quiet now. [Another knock.] Come in. [Betty comes
+in from the left and hands Beermann a visiting card.]
+
+BETTY. The gentleman says it is very urgent.
+
+BEERMANN [with a trembling hand Beermann takes up the visiting card and
+reads]. Professor Wasner. [He sighs audibly and then says with forced
+vigor.] Show the gentleman up. [Betty exit.]
+
+BEERMANN. And this has been my state of mind for the past six hours.
+
+HAUSER [offering him his hand]. Now be brave, my dear friend, and even
+if they should come to you, just deny it outright. You'll know how to
+lie. A man of such rare abilities.... Good night. [Goes out on the
+left. In the doorway, he almost collides with Professor Wasner. They
+greet each other.]
+
+WASNER [wears a cape the left corner thrown picturesquely over his right
+shoulder, holds a large slouch hat in his hand. His hair is disheveled.
+His flaxen beard falls on his chest]. I am here in regard to the most
+remarkable matter a man ever came to consult another about.
+
+BEERMANN [very nervous]. Must it be today, Herr Professor?
+
+WASNER. The situation permits of no delay.
+
+BEERMANN. But it is getting so late.
+
+WASNER. I admit that this is hardly the proper time to make visits.
+Nevertheless, I entreat you to hear me. [Beermann seats himself at
+the desk, takes out a large handkerchief and presses it against his
+forehead. Wasner remains standing and continues.] For many years, as
+you well know, I undertook the task of collecting all publications which
+have been undermining public morals. I daresay today, that my collection
+is most complete and that I have unquestionably proven the harm of
+pornographic literature. What corrupting influence this temptation
+has through suggestion and imagination can today no longer be doubted,
+because--[an impressive pause; Wasner lowers his voice]--I myself fell a
+victim to it. [Beermann remains in his apathetic attitude. Pause.] I can
+well understand that you lack words. I, too, became, on account of it,
+much disgusted with my character. I asked myself if I still have the
+right to participate in the moral salvation of our people and I have
+decided affirmatively only after a thorough examination. [Pause.]
+
+BEERMANN [absentmindedly]. Yes ... yes ... Herr Professor.
+
+WASNER. You are entitled to know everything. Only spare me the details.
+Briefly stated, one day I could not view my collection as objectively as
+usual and thru a friend I was induced to make a most damnable visit. I
+assure you that I simply loathe that fellow.
+
+BEERMANN. But just why are you telling me all this?
+
+WASNER. Because together we have fought against immorality shoulder to
+shoulder. I ask you if you still deem me worthy to strive for our common
+ideal.
+
+BEERMANN. For my part, go as far as you like, I won't stop you.
+
+WASNER. Then you will not deny me your assistance?
+
+BEERMANN. Suppose we discuss all this tomorrow, Herr Professor?
+
+WASNER. Tomorrow will be too late. [Beermann falls back into his chair
+in an attitude of apathy.] After my false step I became convinced that
+it is my duty to protect others from this temptation. My feeling of duty
+became stronger until finally I wrote a letter to be exact--an anonymous
+letter--to the police, wherein I demanded emphatically that they put an
+end to the misconduct of this person.
+
+BEERMANN [now attentive.] Really that was not nice.
+
+WASNER. I wanted to assure myself that within I still had the right to
+belong to the Society for the Suppression of Vice.
+
+BEERMANN. I consider that rather mean. You should always be grateful.
+
+WASNER. This very feeling would have made me feel still more guilty.
+[Beermann shrugs his shoulders nervously.] But now I come to the reason
+for my being here. My information had results ... This creature was
+arrested and today after dinner my false friend comes to tell me that he
+had not been careful, had mentioned to her my name, and I am certainly
+indexed in the book she kept. This book was found in her place by the
+police.
+
+BEERMANN [jumping up]. What's her name?
+
+WASNER. Hauteville.
+
+BEERMANN. So, it is you to whom we are indebted for this scandal.
+[Angrily.] Do you fully realize what you have accomplished? How many
+respectable fathers of families you have brought to the very verge of
+despair?
+
+WASNER. I know it.
+
+BEERMANN. You don't.
+
+WASNER. I came here for that very reason.
+
+BEERMANN [not understanding him]. What?
+
+WASNER. I came here to request you on behalf of the others to call
+tonight, a meeting of the Executive Committee. The Society must do
+everything in its power to keep this case out of court.
+
+BEERMANN. Why the devil did you write that anonymous letter?
+
+WASNER. Listen to me, I beg of you. Someone is involved in this who is
+very dear to you. As soon as I received the information, I hastened to
+Police Headquarters immediately and wanted to intervene there as the
+representative of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. But when I
+mentioned that name I was very formally thrown out. On the steps, whom
+do you think I met but our mutual friend, Kommerzienrat Bolland! He too
+had been in the Commissioner's office and had the same bad luck. I told
+him my troubles and he admitted to me that he also had been lured into
+the den of this Siren.
+
+BEERMANN. Kommerzienrat!
+
+WASNER. Unfortunately. But that is something I can't at all account for.
+He hardly could have been led into temptation through a collection of
+documentary exhibits.
+
+BEERMANN. And what do you want of me now?
+
+WASNER. Our friend sends me to you. He would have come himself but
+the shock threw him into a sickbed. He entreats you urgently to call
+a meeting of the Executive Committee, immediately. We have very
+influential people in our midst who must bring pressure to bear on the
+Department of the Interior in order to hush up this affair.
+
+BEERMANN. If only you had not written that anonymous letter.
+
+WASNER. I felt a moral duty to do it.
+
+BEERMANN. And now it is our moral duty to patch up this matter. [Betty
+enters on the left.]
+
+BETTY [hands Beermann a calling card]. The gentleman says it is very
+urgent.
+
+BEERMANN [reads]. "Assessor Stroebel." [Frightened; to Betty.] Tell him
+I am out of town. [Betty about to leave.] No, tell him I am sick--or,
+Betty, show the gentleman up. [Betty goes out.]
+
+WASNER. At what time shall the Executive Committee meet?
+
+BEERMANN [excited]. Oh, leave me alone with your Executive Committee.
+
+WASNER. You must not desert us in our hour of peril. A leader's fate is
+bound up with his followers according to German tradition.
+
+BEERMANN [as before]. It is all your fault anyway.
+
+WASNER. Shall I then tell our sick friend that we cannot count on your
+support?
+
+BEERMANN. If I am so situated that I can, I will be over to see him in
+an hour. I can't promise you more now. [Assessor Stroebel enters on left
+and remains standing in the doorway.]
+
+STROEBEL [very seriously.] Herr Beermann, I must speak to you privately.
+
+BEERMANN [confused]. You--with me? Well, since you must, I suppose you
+must.
+
+WASNER. Well, I am going. [Wasner exit left.] [Stroebel enters. Wasner
+remains standing on the threshold.] The Executive Committee will be
+called to the sick bed of our friend. We shall await our chairman. [He
+goes. Stroebel and Beermann remain standing, silent, facing each other.]
+
+STROEBEL. You are surprised, I presume, that I come here at this unusual
+hour.
+
+BEERMANN. Why should I be surprised?
+
+STROEBEL. You will have to pardon me. The matter which brings me here is
+unusual and urgent.
+
+BEERMANN. Oh, don't mention it. [A short pause. They both clear their
+throats.]
+
+STROEBEL. You were in my office this morning ...
+
+BEERMANN. Was I?
+
+STROEBEL. Why, of course you were in my office this morning.
+
+BEERMANN. Oh, yes, yes. I remember we had a short conference. I must ask
+you to excuse me, Herr Assessor. I am suffering with an awful ringing in
+the ears. It makes me so forgetful.
+
+STROEBEL. But I hope you still remember what we spoke about.
+
+BEERMANN. Very dimly. If you would remind me of it perhaps it will not
+be so difficult.
+
+STROEBEL. You came on account of the Hauteville case.
+
+BEERMANN. So-o?
+
+STROEBEL. Or the Hochstetter ...
+
+BEERMANN. Well, since you say so, it must be so.
+
+STROEBEL. First I thought you came to express your satisfaction that we
+had caught this person ...
+
+BEERMANN. No, that was not my purpose.
+
+STROEBEL. I am sure it wasn't. I was quite surprised that you were not
+satisfied with her arrest.
+
+BEERMANN. Why shouldn't I not be satisfied with her arrest?
+
+STROEBEL [nervously]. But, Herr Beermann, you will recollect how we
+discussed the diary.
+
+BEERMANN [quickly]. A diary? I know nothing about it.
+
+STROEBEL. You even became quite excited about it.
+
+BEERMANN. I know nothing whatever of any diary. You never showed me any
+book at all. Of that I am very positive.
+
+STROEBEL [in despair]. It is just my confounded luck to find you in this
+predicament. You are evidently suffering.
+
+BEERMANN. An awful ringing in my ears--
+
+STROEBEL. I would leave you at once if the least delay were possible.
+But I simply must speak to you about it tonight. Can't you get relief by
+taking medicine?
+
+BEERMANN. No medicine can help me. I can only tell you that I do not
+know anything about any diary.
+
+STROEBEL. Lord, Lord, leave the diary out of it altogether. It is
+absolutely of no importance.
+
+BEERMANN. It is of no importance?
+
+STROEBEL. Of course, it is safely locked in my desk ...
+
+BEERMANN. Is that so? Well, then I can't understand why you hurried to
+see me tonight.
+
+STROEBEL [very embarrassed]. But that is exactly what I wanted to
+explain to you. But how shall I do it? You scarcely remember any more
+than that you were in my office this morning. It is incredible how
+misfortune has been persecuting me since noon.
+
+BEERMANN [greatly relieved]. Well, calm yourself, Herr Assessor. It will
+come out right in the end.
+
+STROEBEL [downcast]. No, it can never come out right.
+
+BEERMANN [soothingly]. Sit down nicely in this chair--so! I'll sit next
+to you here--so! ... And now let us see about it. [They seat themselves
+on the left, upstage.] Do you know, I am beginning to feel much better
+already. So the diary is in your desk.
+
+STROEBEL. For my part, let it be buried a thousand feet deep. For God's
+sake, don't talk of it any more. It takes us away from my subject.
+
+BEERMANN. That's right. We shan't talk of it any more. Now let me see, I
+called on you about the Hauteville case....
+
+STROEBEL. And on this occasion you demanded that the police suppress the
+matter.
+
+BEERMANN. Quite true, I did that.
+
+STROEBEL. There you are! And that's why I thought you were mostly
+interested in avoiding scandal. BEERMANN. In what way?
+
+STROEBEL. Not personally, but from a wholly humanitarian or civic
+standpoint. You even told me that just because of your position as
+President of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, you regarded it as
+your duty to keep this matter out of the courts.
+
+BEERMANN. Only for the common welfare.
+
+STROEBEL. And out of consideration for public opinion. I had the
+impression that these considerations were of great importance to you.
+
+BEERMANN. And still are. Do you think I change my views? I repeat to
+you, that I would consider this court trial a misfortune because it
+would be contrary to the established order of Society.
+
+STROEBEL. Then we are agreed in our principles!
+
+BEERMANN. You too?
+
+STROEBEL. Absolutely.
+
+BEERMANN. I thought that you had ... this forenoon ...
+
+STROEBEL. And I was also mistaken because you didn't seem to remember.
+But at any rate we agree in our principles. [They shake hands.] Although
+that does not accomplish anything still it is a great relief to me that
+we understand each other. I am coming now to the real purpose of my
+visit. [He clears his throat.] Herr Beermann, I must demand your word of
+honor that not a syllable of what I tell you will ever pass your lips.
+
+BEERMANN. My sacred word of honor.
+
+STROEBEL. These are official secrets, perhaps even State secrets, and a
+single careless word might have tremendous consequences.
+
+BEERMANN. You can depend on me.
+
+STROEBEL. Not even to your family.
+
+BEERMANN. Not a breath.
+
+STROEBEL. To tell you: Since you were at my office this morning there
+were most remarkable developments, quite unique in their way. But I have
+your word of honor--have I not?
+
+BEERMANN. My sacred word of honor.
+
+STROEBEL [bends low and protects his mouth with his hand and whispers].
+That very night when Madame Hauteville's apartment was raided, without
+our knowledge a very distinguished person was hidden there.
+
+BEERMANN. I can imagine.
+
+STROEBEL [loudly]. You can't imagine it at all. [Whispering.] Our young
+heir, Prince Emil, was there himself.
+
+BEERMANN [surprised, slapping his thigh]. Now what do you think of that!
+
+STROEBEL [loudly]. You can understand that I am not telling you this as
+a mere bit of gossip, but certain important reasons compel me to. That
+which you mentioned before about the reasons of state was fulfilled.
+Fulfilled to the very letter. All possibilities of prosecuting this
+person at present have simply gone up in the air.
+
+BEERMANN [starting from his seat]. Then everything is all right.
+
+STROEBEL. There's nothing "all right" about it. Keep your seat, Herr
+Beermann. Of course our desire to prosecute has disappeared, but the
+lady in question is still at headquarters and we don't know how to get
+rid of her.
+
+BEERMANN. Madame Hauteville? [Stroebel nods.] Just forget to lock the
+door and she'll vanish.
+
+STROEBEL [shaking his head]. No, ... for a great many reasons. Do you
+think I did not try hard to find a solution? First, if we openly permit
+her to escape, the whole city will know it tomorrow; the press will take
+it up and there will be a far greater scandal than the court proceedings
+would cause. No, sir, at least the letter of the law must be carried
+out. Madame Hauteville must give a bond. She will be set free and then
+she must escape. That's the only way we can protect ourselves from
+criticism. Do you understand me?
+
+BEERMANN. You mean ... about the bail?
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, sir, the bail first of all. But if it were only the bail!
+Just think! She doesn't want to go at all.
+
+BEERMANN. She does not want to ...?
+
+STROEBEL. No. I gave her another hearing this afternoon and told her
+that we don't care to bother with her any more. "Listen," I said to her,
+"you are lucky. Give bail of Five Thousand Marks, and you will be free
+in ten minutes. There is a ten o'clock train for Brussels tomorrow
+morning." [The bell in the hall rings.] What do you suppose she said?
+She laughed. She knows very well why we are so humane, but she will not
+give a bond of five marks, even if by luck she had it. She says that she
+has already prepared for a trial. I talked to her politely, then rudely.
+She will not budge. She laughs and laughs and that's all. [Knock at the
+door. Maid enters with a visiting card.]
+
+BEERMANN [to the maid]. What does it all mean to-night, at this hour?
+This is not a hotel. [Takes the card and reads.] Freiherr Bodo von
+Schmettau, Herr auf Zirnberg?
+
+STROEBEL. Do receive this gentleman, please.
+
+BEERMANN. Now, while we are conferring?
+
+STROEBEL. Yes, now, if you please.
+
+BEERMANN [to the maid]. Ask the gentleman to come in. [Betty exit.]
+
+STROEBEL. He is Adjutant to the young Prince. I told him I was going to
+see you, and you can realize how upset he is.
+
+BEERMANN. If it affords you pleasure.
+
+STROEBEL. It does. The entire responsibility rests on me and I at least
+must show that I have left nothing undone. [Knock on the door.]
+
+BEERMANN. Come in. [Schmettau enters.]
+
+SCHMETTAU. Good evening.
+
+STROEBEL [rising. Beermann rises also]. May I introduce you gentlemen?
+Herr Beermann, the banker--Herr Baron Schmettau.
+
+SCHMETTAU. We have already had a glimpse of each other today.
+
+BEERMANN. Yes, I remember.
+
+SCHMETTAU. You are the President of the Local Morality Club. Before we
+go further I must tell you that I do not at all agree with those
+views ...
+
+STROEBEL [interrupting with anxiety]. Herr Baron, may I call your
+attention to the fact that Herr Beermann, personally, is far above these
+narrow theories.
+
+SCHMETTAU. I am glad to hear it. Besides as theories they're not so bad.
+
+BEERMANN. As theories! That's what I say.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Well, there you are!
+
+STROEBEL. Herr Beermann is also the candidate of the local
+Conservative-Liberal Coalition.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Then he is certainly no stickler for high-flown notions. I
+should be right glad if we understood each other. And how far are you,
+gentlemen?
+
+STROEBEL. In principles we are agreed.
+
+BEERMANN. Absolutely.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Then we shall have no difficulty in finding the right
+solution.
+
+STROEBEL. I have taken Herr Beermann into our confidence.
+
+SCHMETTAU. That was a very disagreeable mishap, was it not? Very bad.
+Whoever has any patriotism can realize it.
+
+BEERMANN. Herr Baron was also ...
+
+SCHMETTAU. Locked in the closet.
+
+STROEBEL. Permit me to revert to the facts. I was just telling Herr
+Beermann that this Hauteville woman refuses to leave. She boasts that
+she has not the bail and even if she had it, she would not pay it.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Confound her! She controls the situation.
+
+STROEBEL. Now we come to the most difficult part of it. She says that
+if she is compelled to leave the city and is deprived of her livelihood,
+she wants proper damages for it. Of course I told the woman that this,
+to say the least, was an extortionate demand. Well then, she says, we
+will have a trial in court.
+
+BEERMANN. The fox! She knows well that's out of the question.
+
+SCHMETTAU. I am very grateful to you for these sentiments.
+
+STROEBEL. I asked what she considered proper damages. "Ten thousand
+marks," she says. I almost lost my senses. With the necessary bail that
+would make Fifteen thousand marks.
+
+SCHMETTAU. In the end perhaps that is not so gigantic.
+
+STROEBEL. Who is going to pay it?
+
+SCHMETTAU. Not we, of course. Our state is a poor paymaster.
+
+STROEBEL. Here is a fine mess, which I cannot solve--at least not I.
+Herr Beermann, you said yourself that your Society for the Suppression
+of Vice is vitally interested in the undisturbed maintenance of the
+popular belief in morality. For the members of your Society, it ought to
+be quite easy to collect that sum. I know of no other way.
+
+BEERMANN [with folded hands he stands in a pensive mood]. The Executive
+Committee is expecting its chairman. And I know of a professor who alone
+ought to pay an extra thousand for a letter he wrote. [To the others.]
+Gentlemen, briefly speaking, I will do it. On behalf of the society, I
+pledge this sum.
+
+SCHMETTAU. Herr von Beermann, I can only say that you have acted
+honorably. The House of Emil the Benevolent knows on whom to confer an
+order. [He offers his hand.]
+
+BEERMANN. But let me assure you, Herr Baron, I did not do it expecting a
+reward.
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Moral, by Ludwig Thoma
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