FLAMM

What was it?

MRS. FLAMM

I'm much too old for you. A woman can be sixteen years younger than her husband, but not three or four years older. I wish you had listened to me then!

FLAMM

Isn't it real idle to dish up those old stories now? Haven't we something more important to do?--I may be wrong, but it seems to me that we have, mother.--I've had no notion until to-day of what Rose means to me.

Otherwise I'd have acted very differently, of course. Now it's got to be seen if there's anything that can be retrieved. And for that very reason, mother, I was going to beg you not to be petty, and I wanted first of all to try to see whether you could gain some comprehension of what really happened. Up to the moment when it was agreed that that tottery manikin was to marry Rose--our relations were strictly honourable. But when that marriage was determined on--it was all over.--It may be that my ideas are becoming confused. I had seen the girl grow up ... some of our love for little Kurt clung to her. First of all I wanted to protect her from misfortune, and finally, one day, all of a sudden, the way such things happen ... even old Plato has described that correctly in the pa.s.sage in Phaedrus about the two horses:--the bad horse ran away with me and then ... then the sea burst in and the d.y.k.es crashed down.

MRS. FLAMM

'Tis a real interesting story that you've told me, an' even tricked out with learned allusions. An' when you men do that--you think there's no more to say. A poor woman can look out then to see how to get even! Maybe you did it all just to make Rose happy, an' sacrificed yourself into the bargain ... There's no excuse for such things!

FLAMM

Very well, mother. Then we'll adjourn the session. Remember though, that when Kurt died, I couldn't bear to see the girl around the house. Who kept her and persuaded her to come back?

MRS. FLAMM

Because I didn't want life to become so dead around us. I didn't keep her for my sake.

FLAMM

And I have said nothing for your sake.

MRS. FLAMM

Every tear is wasted that one might shed for you an' your kind. But you can spare me your speeches, Flamm.

_The MAID brings in the afternoon coffee._

THE MAID

Rose Bernd's out in the kitchen.

MRS. FLAMM

Come, girl! Wheel me out! [_To FLAMM._] You can help shove me aside.

Somewhere in the world there'll be a little room for me! I won't be in the way. You can call her in when I'm gone.

FLAMM

[_Sternly, to the MAID._] Tell the girl to wait for a moment. [_The MAID leaves the room._] Mother, you have to say a word to her! I can't.... My hands are tied.

MRS. FLAMM

An' what am I to say to her, Flamm?

FLAMM

Mother, you know that better than I! You know very well ... you spoke of it yourself.... For heaven's sake, don't be petty at this moment! She mustn't go from our door in any such fashion!

MRS. FLAMM

I can't clean her boots, Flamm!

FLAMM

And I don't want you to! It isn't a question of that! But you sent for her yourself.--You can't change so completely in a moment as to forget all compa.s.sion and sympathy. What did you say to me a while ago? And if the la.s.s goes to the devil ... you know I'm not such a scoundrel that I'd care to drag out my life any longer. It's one thing or the other--don't forget that!

MRS. FLAMM

Well, Christie ... you men are not worth it, to be sure. An' yet, in the end, what is a body to do?--The heart bleeds! 'Tis our own fault. Why does a woman deceive herself again an' again, when she's old enough an'

sensible enough to know better! An' don't deceive yourself about this thing either, Christie.... I'm willin'! I can do it! I'll talk to her!

Not for your sake, but because it's right. But don't imagine that I can make whole what you've broken.--You men are like children in that respect!

_The MAID comes back._

THE MAID

She don't want to wait no more!

MRS. FLAMM

Send her in!

_The MAID withdraws again._

FLAMM

Be sensible, mother! On my word of honour....

MRS. FLAMM

You needn't give it! You needn't break it!

_FLAMM leaves the room. MRS. FLAMM sighs and picks up her crochet work again. Thereupon ROSE BERND enters._

ROSE

[_Showily dressed in her Sunday clothes. Her features are peaked and there is a feverish gleam in her eyes._] Good-day, madam.

MRS. FLAMM

Good-day! Sit down. Well, Rose, I've asked you to come here ... I suppose you've kept in mind what we talked about that time. There's many a thing that's changed since then!... In many respects, anyhow! But that made me want to talk to you all the more. That day, to be sure, you said I couldn't help you, that you wanted to fight it all out alone! An' to-day a good bit has grown clear to me--your strange behaviour that time, an'