Oh, I was not speaking for myself, not at all. But just think, if it were to come out, what the town and your father--

MAGDA.

Poor old man! His peace is destroyed, at any rate.

VON KELLER.

And think! the more brilliantly you are placed now, the more certain is your ruin.

MAGDA.

[_Madly_.] And if I wish for ruin! If I--

VON KELLER.

For Heaven's sake, hush! some one's coming.

MAGDA.

[_Springing up_.] Let them come! Let them all come! I don't care, I don't care! To their faces I'll say what I think of you,--of you and your respectable society. Why should I be worse than you, that I must prolong my existence among you by a lie! Why should this gold upon my body, and the l.u.s.tre which surrounds my name, only increase my infamy?

Have I not worked early and late for ten long years? Have I not woven this dress with sleepless nights? Have I not built up my career step by step, like thousands of my kind? Why should I blush before any one? I am myself, and through myself I have become what I am.

VON KELLER.

Good! You may stand there proudly, but you might at least consider--

MAGDA.

Whom? [_As he is silent_.] Whom? The pillar! Ha, ha! The pillar begins to totter! Be easy, my dear friend. I am not revengeful. But when I look at you in all your cowardly dignity--unwilling to take upon you the slightest consequence of your doings, and contrast you with myself, who sank through your love to be a pariah and an outcast-- Ah, I'm ashamed of you. Pah!

VON KELLER.

For Heaven's sake! Your father! If he should see you like this!

MAGDA.

[_In agony_.] My father! [_Escapes through the door of the dining-room, with her handkerchief to her face_.]

_Enter_ Schwartze, _happy and excited, through the hall-door_.

SCHWARTZE.

Ah, my dear Councillor--was that my daughter who just disappeared?

VON KELLER.

[_In great embarra.s.sment_.] Yes, it was--

SCHWARTZE.

Why should she run away from me? Magda!

VON KELLER.

[_Trying to block his path_.] Had you not better-- The young lady wished to be alone for a little!

SCHWARTZE.

Now? Why? When one has visitors, one does not-- Why should she--

VON KELLER.

She was a little--agitated.

SCHWARTZE.

Agitated?

VON KELLER.

Yes; that's all.

SCHWARTZE.

Who has been here?

VON KELLER.

No one. At least, as far as I know.

SCHWARTZE.

Then, what agitating things could you two have to talk about?

VON KELLER.

Nothing of importance,--nothing at all, I a.s.sure you.

SCHWARTZE.

What makes you look so, then? You can scarcely stand.

VON KELLER.

I? Oh, you're mistaken, you're mistaken.

SCHWARTZE.