[_He begins to weave._

[_Rattle of another volley. OLD HILSE, mortally wounded, starts to his feet and then falls forward over the loom. At the same moment loud shouting of_ "Hurrah!" _is heard. The people who till now have been standing in the entry-room dash out, joining in the cry. The old woman repeatedly asks:_ "Father, father, what's wrong with you?" _The continued shouting dies away gradually in the distance. MIELCHEN comes rushing in._

MIELCHEN

Gran'father, gran'father, they're drivin' the soldiers out o' the village; they've got into Dittrich's house, an' they're doin' what they did at Dreissiger's. Gran'father! [_The child grows frightened, notices that something has happened, puts her finger in her mouth, and goes up cautiously to the dead man._] Gran'father!

MOTHER HILSE

Come now, father, can't you say something? You're frightenin' me.

THE END

THE BEAVER COAT

A THIEVES' COMEDY

LIST OF CHARACTERS

VON WEHRHAHN, _Justice._

KRUEGER, _Capitalist in a small way._

DR. FLEISCHER.

PHILIP, _his son._

MOTES.

MRS. MOTES.

MRS. WOLFF, _Washerwoman._

JULIUS WOLFF, _her husband._

LEONTINE, ADELAIDE, _her daughters._

WULKOW, _Lighterman._

GLASENAPP, _Clerk in the Justice's court._

MITTELDORF, _Constable._

Scene of the action: anywhere in the neighbourhood of Berlin.

THE FIRST ACT

_A small, blue-tinted kitchen with low ceiling; a window at the left; at the right a door of rough boards leading out into the open; in the rear mall an empty casing from which the door has been lifted.--In the left corner a flat oven, above which hang kitchen utensils in a wooden frame; in the right corner oars and other boating implements.

Rough, stubby pieces of hewn wood lie in a heap under the window. An old kitchen bench, several stools, etc.--Through the empty casing in the rear a second room is visible. In it stands a high, neatly, made bed; above it hang cheap photographs in still cheaper frames, small chromolithographs, etc. A chair of soft mood stands with its back against the bed.--It is winter and moonlight. On the oven a tallow-candle is burning in a candle-stick of tin. LEONTINE WOLFF has fallen asleep on a stool by the oven and rests her head and arms on it. She is a pretty, fair girl of seventeen in the working garb of a domestic servant. A woolen shawl is tied over her cotton jacket.--For several seconds there is silence. Then someone is heard trying to unlock the door from without. But the key is in the lock and a knocking follows._

MRS. WOLFF

[_Unseen, from without._] Adelaide! Adelaide! [_There is no answer and a loud knocking is heard at the window._] Are you goin' to open or not?

LEONTINE

[_Drowsily._] No, no, I'm not goin' to be abused that way!

MRS. WOLFF

Open, girl, or I'll come in through the window!

[_She raps violently at the panes._

LEONTINE

[_Waking up._] Oh, it's you, mama! I'm coming now!

[_She unlocks the door from within._

MRS. WOLFF

[_Without laying down a sack which she carries over her shoulder._] What are _you_ doin' here?

LEONTINE

[_Sleepily._] Evenin', mama.

MRS. WOLFF

How did you get in here, eh?

LEONTINE

Well, wasn't the key lyin' on the goat shed?

MRS. WOLFF