The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann Volume I Part 111

WEHRHAHN

You need not become violent. What is your name, by the way?

KRUEGER

[_Taken aback._] My name?

WEHRHAHN

Yes, your name!

KRUEGER

So my name isn't known to you? I thought we had had the pleasure before.

WEHRHAHN

Sorry. Can't say that I have a clear recollection. And that wouldn't matter officially anyhow.

KRUEGER

[_Resignedly._] My name is Krueger.

WEHRHAHN

Capitalist by any chance?

KRUEGER

[_With extreme and ironic vehemence._] Exactly--capitalist and houseowner here.

WEHRHAHN

Identify yourself, please.

KRUEGER

I--Identify myself! My name is Krueger. I don't think we need go to any further trouble. I've been living here for thirty years. Every child in the place knows me.

WEHRHAHN

The length of your residence here doesn't concern me. It is my business merely to ascertain your ident.i.ty. Is this gentleman known to you--Mr.

Motes?

_MOTES half rises with an angry expression._

WEHRHAHN

Ah, yes, I understand. Kindly sit down. Well, Glasenapp?

GLASENAPP

Yes, at your service. It is Mr. Krueger all right.

WEHRHAHN

Very well.--So you have been robbed of wood?

KRUEGER

Of wood, exactly. Two loads of pine wood.

WEHRHAHN

Did you have the wood stored in your shed?

KRUEGER

[_Growing violent again._] That's quite a separate matter. That's the substance of another complaint I have to make.

WEHRHAHN

[_With an ironic laugh and looking at the others._] Still another one?

KRUEGER

What do you mean?

WEHRHAHN

Nothing. You may go ahead with your statement. The wood, it appears, was not in your shed?

KRUEGER

The wood was in the garden, that is, in front of the garden.

WEHRHAHN

In other words: it lay in the street.

KRUEGER

It lay in front of the garden on my property.

WEHRHAHN

So that any one could pick it up without further ado?