(_Running after him._)

I'll strike you dead!

THE REST OF THEM.

(_Running after._)

Chase him! Chase him! Chase him! Chase him!

MELCHIOR.

(_Alone, wandering toward the window._)

The lightning rod runs down there.----One would have to wind a pocket handkerchief about it.----When I think of them the blood always rushes to my head. And Moritz turns my feet to lead.----I'll go to a newspaper. If they pay me by s.p.a.ce I'll be a free lance!---- collect the news of the day----write----locals----ethical---- psychophysical----one doesn't starve so easily nowadays. Public soup houses, Cafe Temperance----The house is sixty feet high and the cornice is crumbling----They hate me----they hate me because I rob them of liberty. Handle myself as I will, there remain misdemeanors----I dare only hope in the course of the year, gradually----It will be new moon in eight days. To-morrow I'll grease the hinges. By Sunday evening I must find out somehow who has the key.----Sunday evening, during prayers, a cataleptic fit----I hope to G.o.d n.o.body else will be sick!----Everything seems as clear to me as if it had happened. Over the window-frames I can reach easily--a swing--a clutch--but one must wind a handkerchief about it.----There comes the head inquisitor. (_Exit to the left_.)

(_Dr. Prokrustes enters from the right with a locksmith._)

DR. PROKRUSTES.

The window is on the third floor and has stinging nettles planted under it, but what do the degenerates care for stinging nettles!----Last winter one of them got out of the trap door on the roof, and we had the whole trouble of capturing him, bringing him back, and locking him up again----

THE LOCKSMITH.

Do you want the grating of wrought iron?

DR. PROKRUSTES.

Of wrought iron----riveted so they cannot meddle with it.

SCENE FIFTH.

_A bedchamber.--Frau Bergmann, Ina Muller and Doctor von Brausepulver. Wendla, in bed._

DR. VON BRAUSEPULVER.

How old are you, exactly?

WENDLA.

Fourteen and a half.

DR. VON BRAUSEPULVER.

I have been ordering Blaud's pills for fifteen years and have noticed astonishing results in the majority of cases. I prefer them to cod liver oil and wine of iron. Begin with three or four pills a day, and increase the number just as soon as you are able. I ordered Fraulein Elfriede, Baroness von Witzleben to increase the number of them by one, every third day. The Baroness misunderstood me and increased the number every day by three. Scarcely three weeks later the Baroness was able to go to Pyrmont with her mother to complete her cure.----I will allow you to dispense with exhausting walks and extra meals; therefore, promise me, dear child, to take frequent exercise and to avoid unwholesome food as soon as the desire for it appears again.

Then this palpitation of the heart will soon cease----and the headache, the chills, the giddiness----and this frightful indigestion. Fraulein Elfriede, Baroness von Witzleben, ate a whole roast chicken with new potatoes for her breakfast eight days after her convalescence.

FRAU BERGMANN.

May I offer you a gla.s.s of wine, Doctor?

DR. VON BRAUSEPULVER.

I thank you, dear Frau Bergmann, my carriage is waiting.----Do not take it so to heart. In a few weeks our dear little patient will be again as fresh and bright as a gazelle. Be of good cheer.----Good-day, Frau Bergmann, good-day, dear child, good-day, ladies----good-day.

(_Frau Bergmann accompanies him to the door._)

INA.

(_At the window._)

Now your plantains are in bloom again.----Can you see that from your bed?----A short display, hardly worth rejoicing over them, they come and go so quickly. I, too, must go right away now. Muller is waiting for me in front of the post-office, and I must go first to the dressmaker's. Mucki is to have his first trousers and Karl is to have new knit leggings for winter.

WENDLA.

Sometimes I feel so happy----all joy and sunshine. I had not guessed that it could go so well in one's heart! I want to go out, to go over the meadows in the twilight, to look for primroses along the river and to sit down on the banks and dream--Then comes the toothache, and I feel as if I had to die the next morning at daybreak; I grow hot and cold, it becomes dark before my eyes; and then the beast flutters inside.----As often as I wake up, I see Mother crying. Oh, that hurts me so.----I can't tell you how much, Ina!

INA.

Shall I lift your pillows higher?

FRAU BERGMANN.

(_Returning._)

He thinks the vomiting will soon cease; and then you can get up in peace----I, too, think it would be better if you got up soon, Wendla.

INA.

Possibly when I visit you the next time you will be dancing around the house again. Good-bye, Mother. I must positively go to the dressmaker's. G.o.d guard you, Wendla dear. (_Kisses her._) A speedy, speedy recovery! (_Exit Ina._)

WENDLA.

What did he tell you, Mother, when he was outside?

FRAU BERGMANN.

He didn't say anything.----He said Fraulein von Witzleben was subject to fainting spells also. It is almost always so with chlorosis.

WENDLA.

Did he say that I have chlorosis, Mother?

FRAU BERGMANN.

You are to drink milk and eat meat and vegetables when your appet.i.te comes back.

WENDLA.