BEGGAR. What! Is that how a daughter should speak to her father? You shameless wench! I'll teach you. I'll be lame again hereafter. For when I am lame I carry a stick and a stick is a good thing to have in your hand to teach a daughter respect. Ten francs; you know for the picture. [_While he speaks he is taking off his coat and vest, showing a cork life belt beneath._] That suicide trick is getting played out anyhow--hardly 50 francs--and I had to pay 20 for the place. Come my daughter, we will go home. [_Calls._] Waiter--Waiter! COCOTTE. He doesn't hear you, papa--Waiter if you don't come at once we shall go without paying. [_The Waiter enters with hat wet._] BEGGAR [_slips him a gold piece_]. Waiter, call a taxicab. [_The Waiter takes the coin with a respectful bow, blows his taxi whistle. As the answering whistle of the taxicab and the honk of the horn are heard the Beggar and Cocotte exit ceremoniously and the curtain falls._ [_Curtain._] THE TENOR A COMEDY BY FRANK WEDEKIND TRANSLATED BY ANDRÉ TRIDON. Copyright, 1913, by André Tridon. All rights reserved. CHARACTERS GERARDO [_Wagnerian tenor, thirty-six years old_]. HELEN MAROVA [_a beautiful dark-haired woman of twenty-five_]. PROFESSOR DUHRING [_sixty, the typical "misunderstood genius"_]. MISS ISABEL COEHURNE [_a blonde English girl of sixteen_]. MULLER [_hotel manager_]. A VALET. A BELL BOY. AN UNKNOWN WOMAN. TIME: _The present_. PLACE: _A city in Austria_. THE TENOR was first produced in America by the Washington Square Players. Applications for permission to perform THE TENOR must be addressed to André Tridon, 121 Madison Avenue, New York. THE TENOR A COMEDY BY FRANK WEDEKIND [SCENE: _A large hotel room. There are doors at the right and in the center, and at the left a window with heavy portières. Behind a grand piano at the right stands a Japanese screen which conceals the fireplace. There are several large trunks, open; bunches of flowers are all over the room; many bouquets are piled up on the piano._] VALET [_entering from the adjoining room carrying an armful of clothes which he proceeds to pack in one of the trunks. There is a knock at the door_]. Come in. BELL BOY. There is a lady who wants to know if the Maestro is in. VALET. He isn't in. [_Exit Bell Boy. The Valet goes into the adjoining room and returns with another armful of clothes. There is another knock at the door. He puts the clothes on a chair and goes to the door._] What's this again? [_He opens the door and some one hands him several large bunches of flowers, which he places carefully on the piano; then he goes back to his packing. There is another knock. He opens the door and takes a handful of letters. He glances at the addresses and reads aloud:_ "Mister Gerardo. Monsieur Gerardo. Gerardo Esquire. Signor Gerardo." [_He drops the letters on a tray and resumes his packing._]