(_Gathering himself together for the difficult development section._) That American beer will be the death of me! I wonder what they put in it to give it its gassy taste. And the so-called German beer they sell over here--_du heiliger Herr Jesu!_ Even Bremen would be ashamed of it. In Muenchen the police would take a hand. (_Aiming for the first and second C's above the staff, he accidentally strikes the C sharps instead and has to transpose three measures to get back into the key. The effect is harrowing, and he gives his audience a swift glance of apprehension._) TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY WOMEN What new beauties he gets out of it! A MAN He can tickle the ivories, all right, all right! A CRITIC Well, at any rate, he doesn't try to imitate Paderewski. THE GREAT PIANIST (_Relieved by the non-appearance of the hisses he expected._) Well, it's lucky for me that I'm not in Leipzig to-day! But in Leipzig an artist runs no risks: the beer is pure. The authorities see to that. The worse enemy of technic is biliousness, and biliousness is sure to follow bad beer. (_He gets to the_ coda _at last and takes it at a somewhat livelier pace._) THE VIRGIN How I envy the woman he loves! How it would thrill me to feel his arms about me--to be drawn closer, closer, closer! I would give up the whole world! What are conventions, prejudices, legal forms, morality, after all? Vanities! Love is beyond and above them all--and art is love! I think I must be a pagan. THE GREAT PIANIST And the herring! Good God, what herring! These barbarous Americans---- THE VIRGIN Really, I am quite indecent! I should blush, I suppose. But love is never ashamed--How people misunderstand me! THE MARRIED WOMAN I wonder if he's faithful. The chances are against it. I never heard of a man who was. (_An agreeable melancholy overcomes her and she gives herself up to the mood without thought._) THE GREAT PIANIST I wonder whatever became of that girl in Dresden. Every time I think of her, she suggests pleasant thoughts--good beer, a fine band, _Gemuetlichkeit_. I must have been in love with her--not much, of course, but just enough to make things pleasant. And not a single letter from her! I suppose she thinks I'm starving to death over here--or tuning pianos. Well, when I get back with the money there'll be a shock for her. A shock--but not a _Pfennig_! THE MARRIED WOMAN (_Her emotional coma ended._) Still, you can hardly blame him. There must be a good deal of temptation for a great artist. All of these frumps here would---- THE VIRGIN Ah, how dolorous, how exquisite is love! How small the world would seem if---- THE MARRIED WOMAN Of course you could hardly call such old scarecrows temptations. But still----