The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann Volume Ii Part 87

PAULINE

[_Seeming to notice for the first time the fantastic strangeness of the place in which she finds herself. Frightened and genuinely perturbed._]

Mother o' G.o.d, what kind o' place is this?

MRS. JOHN

Whoever c'n that be?

BRUNO

'Tain't the manager, Jette! More like it's a spout what's drippin'!

MRS. JOHN

Miss, you be so kind an' go for two minutes, if you don' mind, up into this here loft. Maybe somebody's comin' that just wants some information.

_In her growing terror PAULINE does as she is asked to do. She clambers up the stairs to the loft, the trap door being open. MRS.

JOHN has taken up a position in which she can, at need, hide PAULINE from anyone entering the room. PAULINE disappears: MRS. JOHN and BRUNO remain alone._

BRUNO

What business has you with that pious mug?

MRS. JOHN

That ain't none o' your business, y'understan'?

BRUNO

I was just axin' 'cause you was so careful that n.o.body should see her.

Otherwise I don't know's I gives a d.a.m.n.

MRS. JOHN

An' you ain't supposed to!

BRUNO

Much obliged. Maybe I better toddle along, then.

MRS. JOHN

D'you know what you owes me, you scamp?

BRUNO

[_Carelessly._] What are you gettin' excited for? What is I doin' to you?

What d'you want? I gotta go to my gal now. I'm sleepy. Las' night I slept under a lot o' bushes in the park. An' anyhow, I'm cleaned out--[_He turns his trowsers pockets inside out._] An' in consequence o' that I gotta go an' earn somethin'.

MRS. JOHN

Here you stays! Don't you dare move! If you do you c'n whine like a whipped purp an' you'll never be gettin' so much as a penny outa me no more--that's what you won't! Bruno, you're goin' ways you hadn't ought to.

BRUNO

Aw, what d'you think? Is I goin' to be a dam' fool? D'you think I ain'

goin' when I gets a good livin' offa Hulda? [_He pulls out a dirty card-case._] Not so much as a measly p.a.w.n ticket has I got. Tell me what you want an' then lemme go!

MRS. JOHN

What I wants? Of you? What're you good for anyhow? You ain't good for nothin' excep' for your sister who ain't right in her head to feel sorry for you, you loafer an' scamp!

BRUNO

Maybe you _ain'_ right in your head sometimes!

MRS. JOHN

Our father, he used to say when you was no more'n five an' six years old an' used to do rowdy things, that we couldn't never be proud o' you an'

that I might as well let you go hang. An' my husband what's a reel honest decent man ... why, you can't be seen alongside of a good man like him.

BRUNO

Sure, I knows all that there, Jette. But things ain' that easy to straighten out. I knows all right I was born with a kind o' a twist in my back, even if n.o.body don't see it. No, I wasn't born in no castle. Well, I gotta do what I c'n do with my twist. All right. What d'you want?

'Tain't for the rats you're keepin' me. You wanta hush up somethin' wi'

that wh.o.r.e!

MRS. JOHN

[_Shaking her hand under BRUNO'S nose._] You give away one word o' this an' I'll kill you, I'll make a corpse o' you!

BRUNO

Well now, looka here! I'm goin', y'understan'? [_He mounts the stairs._]

Maybe someday I'll be droppin' into good luck without knowin' it.

_He disappears through the trap-door, MRS. JOHN hurriedly blows out the lamp and taps her way to the door of the library. She enters it but does--not wholly close the door behind her.--The noise that BRUNO actually heard was that of a key being turned in a rusty keyhole. A light step is now heard approaching the door. For a moment the street noises of Berlin as well as the yelling of children in the outer halls had been audible. Strains of a hurdy-gurdy from the yard.--WALBURGA Ha.s.sENREUTER enters with hesitating and embarra.s.sed steps. The girl is not yet sixteen and is pretty and innocent of appearance. Sunshade, light-coloured summer dress, not coming below the ankle._

WALBURGA

[_Halts, listens, then says nervously:_] Papa!--Isn't any one up here yet? Papa! Papa! [_She listens long and intently and then says:_] Why, what an odour of coal oil there is here! [_She finds matches, lights one, is about to light the lamp and burns her fingers against the hot chimney._] Ouch! Why, dear me! Who is here?

[_She has cried out and is about to run away._

_MRS. JOHN reappears._

MRS. JOHN

Well, Miss Walburga, who's goin' to go an' kick up a row like that! You c'n be reel quiet. 'Tain't n.o.body but me!