Jette, at the master-mason's house, the milk that's fed to the twins is sterilised too.

_The pupils of Ha.s.sENREUTER, KaFERSTEIN and DR. KEGEL, two young men between twenty and twenty-five years of age, have knocked at the door and then opened it._

Ha.s.sENREUTER

[_Noticing his pupils._] Patience, gentlemen. I'll be with you directly.

At the moment I am busying myself with the problems of the nourishment of infants and the care of children.

KaFERSTEIN

[_His head bears witness to a sharply defined character: large nose, pale, a serious expression, beardless, about the mouth a flicker of kindly mischievousness. With hollow voice, gentle and suppressed._] You must know that we are the three kings out of the East.

Ha.s.sENREUTER

[_Who still holds the apparatus aloft in his hands._] What are you?

KaFERSTEIN

[_As before._] We want to adore the babe.

Ha.s.sENREUTER

Ha, ha, ha, ha! If you are the kings out of the East, gentlemen, it seems to me that the third of you is lacking.

KaFERSTEIN

The third is our new fellow pupil in the field of dramaturgic activity, the _studiosus theologiae_, who is detained at present at the corner of Blumen and Wallnertheater streets by an accident partly sociological, partly psychological in its nature.

DR. KEGEL

We made all possible haste to escape.

Ha.s.sENREUTER

Do you see, a star stands above this house, Mrs. John! But do tell me, has our excellent Spitta once more made some public application of his quackery for the healing of the so-called sins of the social order? Ha, ha, ha, ha! _Semper idem!_ Why, that fellow is actually becoming a nuisance!

KaFERSTEIN

A crowd gathered in the street for some reason and it seems that he discovered a friend in the midst of it.

Ha.s.sENREUTER

According to my unauthoritative opinion this young Spitta would have done much better as a surgeon's a.s.sistant or Salvation Army officer. But that's the way of the world: the fellow must needs want to be an actor.

MRS. Ha.s.sENREUTER

Mr. Spitta, the children's tutor, wants to become an actor?

Ha.s.sENREUTER

That is exactly the plan he has proposed to me, mama.--But now, if you bring incense and myrrh, dear Kaferstein, out with them! You observe what a many sided man your teacher is. Now I help my pupils, thirsty after the contents of the Muses' b.r.e.a.s.t.s, to the nourishment they desire--_nutrimentum spiritus_--again I....

KaFERSTEIN

[_Rattles a toy bank._] Well, I deposit this offering, which is a fire-proof bank, next to the perambulator of this excellent offspring of the mason, with the wish that he will rise to be at least a royal architect.

JOHN

[_Having put cordial gla.s.ses on the table, he fetches and opens a fresh bottle._] Well, now I'm goin' to uncork the _Danziger Goldwa.s.ser_.

Ha.s.sENREUTER

To him who hath shall be given, as you observe, Mrs. John.

JOHN

[_Filling the gla.s.ses._] n.o.body ain't goin' to say that my child's unprovided for, gentlemen. But I takes it very kindly o' you, gentlemen!

[_All except MRS. Ha.s.sENREUTER and WALBURGA lift up their gla.s.ses._] To you health! Come on, mother, we'll drink together too.

[_The action follows the words._

Ha.s.sENREUTER

[_In a tone of reproof._] Mama, you must, of course, drink with us.

JOHN

[_Having drunk, with jolly expansiveness._] I ain't goin' to Hamburg no more now. The boss c'n send some other feller there. I been quarrelin'

with him about that these three days. I gotta take up my hat right now an' go there; he axed me to come roun' to his office again at six. If he don' want to give in, he needn't. It won't never do for the father of a family to be forever an' a day away from his family ... I got a friend--why, all I gotta do's to say the word 'n I c'n get work on the layin' o' the foundations o' the new houses o' Parliament. Twelve years I been workin' for this same boss! I c'n afford to make a change some time.

Ha.s.sENREUTER

[_Pats JOHN'S shoulder._] Quite of your opinion, quite! Our family life is something that neither money nor kind words can buy of us.

_ERICH SPITTA enters. His hat is soiled; his clothes show traces of mud. His tie is gone. He looks pale and excited and is busy wiping his hands with his handkerchief._

SPITTA

Beg pardon, but I wonder if I could brush up here a little, Mrs. John?

Ha.s.sENREUTER

Ha, ha, ha! For heaven's sake, what have you been up to, my good Spitta?

SPITTA

I only escorted a lady home, Mr. Ha.s.senreuter--nothing else!