The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann Volume Ii Part 120

Then she wanted to get away 'cause Arthur said that her intended had gone off! Then I wanted to go along with her a little bit an' Arthur an'

Adolph, they came along. Next we dropped in the ladies' entrance at Kalinich's an' what with tastin' a lot o' toddy an' other liquors she got good an' tipsy. An' then she staid all night with a woman what's Arthur's sweetheart. All next day there was always two or three of us boys after her, didn't let her go, an' played all kinds o' tricks, an' things got jollier an' jollier.

[_The church bells of the Sunday morning services begin to ring._

BRUNO

[_Goes on._] But the money's gone. I needs crowns an' pennies, Jette.

MRS. JOHN

[_Rummaging for money._] How much has you got to have?

BRUNO

[_Listening to the bells._] What?

MRS. JOHN

Money!

BRUNO

The old bag o' bones in the junk shop downstairs was thinkin' as how I'd better get across the Russian frontier! Listen, Jette, how the bells is ringin'.

MRS. JOHN

Why do you has to get acrost the frontier?

BRUNO

Take a wet towel, Jette, an' put a little vinegar on it. I been bothered with this here dam' nosebleed all night.

[_He presses his handkerchief to his nose._

MRS. JOHN

[_Breathing convulsively, brings a towel._] Who was it scratched your wrist into shreds that way?

BRUNO

[_Listening to the bells._] Half past three o'clock this mornin' she could ha' heard them bells yet.

MRS. JOHN

O Jesus, my Saviour! That ain't true! That can't noways be possible! I didn't tell you nothin' like that, Bruno! Bruno, I has to sit down. Oh!

[_She sits down._] That's what our father foretold to me on his dyin'

bed.

BRUNO

It ain't so easy jokin' with me. If you go to see Minna, jus' tell her that I got the trick o' that kind o' thing an' that them goin's on with Karl an' with Fritz has to stop.

MRS. JOHN

But, Bruno, if they was to catch you!

BRUNO

Well, then I has to swing, an' out at the Charity hospital they got another stiff to dissect.

MRS. JOHN

[_Giving him money._] Oh, that ain't true. What did you do, Bruno?

BRUNO

You're a crazy old crittur, Jette.--[_He puts his hand on her not without a tremor of emotion._] You always says as how I ain't good for nothin'.

But when things can't go on no more, then you needs me, Jette.

MRS. JOHN

Well, but how? Did you threaten the girl that she wasn't to let herself be seen no more? That's what you ought to ha' done, Bruno! An' did you?

BRUNO

I danced with her half the night. An' then we went out on the street.

Well, a gentleman came along, y'understan'? Well, when I told him that I had some little business o' my own to transact with the lady an' pulled my bra.s.s-knuckles outa my breeches, o' course he took to his heels.--Then I says to her, says I: Don't you be scared. If you're peaceable an' don'

make no outcry an' don' come no more to my sister axin' after the child--well, we c'n make a reel friendly bargain. So she toddled along with me a ways.

MRS. JOHN

Well, an' then?

BRUNO

Well, she didn't want to! An' all of a sudden she went for my throat that I thought it'd be the end o' me then an' there! Like a dawg she went for me hot an' heavy! An' then ... then I got a little bit excited too--an'

then, well ... that's how it come ...

MRS. JOHN

[_Sunk in horror._] What time d'you say it was?

BRUNO

It must ha' been somewhere between three an' four. The moon had a big ring aroun' it. Out on the square there was a dam' cur behind the planks what got up an' howled. Then it began to drip an' soon a thunderstorm came up.

MRS. JOHN

[_Changed and with sudden self-mastery._] It's all right. Go on. She don'