LULU. I only wish he would! Then, at last he'd get out of his swaddling-clothes. He puts his trust in the marriage contract he has in his pocket. Trouble is past and gone. One can now give oneself and let oneself go as if one were at home. That isn't the sense of a =child=! It's banal! He has no education; he sees nothing; he sees neither me nor himself; he is blind, blind, blind.... SCHÖN. (Half to himself.) When =his= eyes open!! LULU. Open his eyes for him! I'm going to ruin. I'm neglecting myself. He doesn't know me at all. What am I to him? He calls me darling and little devil. He would say the same to any piano-teacher. He makes no pretensions. Everything is alright, to him. That comes from his never in his life having felt the need of intercourse with women. SCHÖN. If that's true! LULU. He admits it perfectly openly. SCHÖN. A man who has painted them, rags and tags and velvet gowns, since he was fourteen. LULU. Women make him anxious. He trembles for his health and comfort. But he isn't afraid of =me=! SCHÖN. How many girls would deem themselves God knows how blessed in your situation. LULU. (Softly pleading.) Seduce him. Corrupt him. You know how. Take him into bad company--you know the people. I am nothing to him but a woman, just woman. He makes me feel so ridiculous. He will be prouder of me. He doesn't know any differences. I'm thinking my head off, day and night, how to shake him up. In my despair I dance the can-can. He yawns; and drivels something about obscenity. SCHÖN. Nonsense. He is an artist, though. LULU. At least he believes he is. SCHÖN. That's the chief thing! LULU. When _I_ pose for him.... He believes, too, that he's a famous man. SCHÖN. We =have= made him one. LULU. He believes everything. He's as mistrustful as a thief, and lets himself be lied to, till one loses all respect! When we first knew each other I informed him I had never yet loved-- (Schön falls into an easy-chair.) Otherwise he would really have taken me for a fallen woman! SCHÖN. You make God knows what exorbitant demands on =legitimate= relations! LULU. I make no exorbitant demands. Often I even dream still of Goll. SCHÖN. He was, at any rate, not banal! LULU. He is there, as if he had never been away. Only he walks as tho in his socks. He isn't angry with me; he's awfully sad. And then he is fearful, as tho he were there without the permission of the police. Otherwise, he feels at ease with us. Only he can't quite get over my having thrown away so much money since-- SCHÖN. You yearn for the whip once more? LULU. Maybe. I don't dance any more. SCHÖN. Teach him to do it. LULU. A waste of trouble. SCHÖN. Out of a hundred women, ninety educate their husbands to suit themselves. LULU. He loves me. SCHÖN. That's fatal, of course. LULU. He loves me-- SCHÖN. That is an unbridgeable abyss.