Come, kneel down beside me. It will do you good to pray just once. None of the gems will drop out of your crown. POET (_Kneels beside her, and puts his arm around her waist_) ACTRESS Libertine!—(_Rises_). And do you know to whom I prayed? POET To God, I suppose. ACTRESS (_With deep sarcasm_) Oh, of course! It was to you to whom I prayed. POET Then why did you look out of the window? ACTRESS Tell me rather where you have lured me. POET But, child, it was your idea. You wanted to go to the country—and picked out this very place. ACTRESS Well, wasn’t I right? POET Certainly. It’s charming here. When you consider that we are just two hours from Vienna—complete solitude. And delightful scenery! ACTRESS Isn’t it? If you had any real talent, this place might inspire you to write. POET Have you been here before? ACTRESS Have I been here before? Indeed I have! I have lived here for years. POET With whom? ACTRESS With Dick, of course. POET Oh, really! ACTRESS How I adored that man!— POET You’ve told me all about that already. ACTRESS I am sorry—I can go away again, if I bore you! POET You bore me?… You can’t imagine what you mean to me… You are a whole world in itself… You are divine, you are a genius… You are the simplicity which is holy… Yes, you… But you oughtn’t to talk about Dick now. ACTRESS That was merely a slip! Well!— POET I am glad that you feel that way. ACTRESS Come, give me a kiss! POET (_Kisses her_) ACTRESS But now we had better say good night. Good night, darling! POET What do you mean by that? ACTRESS I mean, I am going to lie down and go to sleep. POET Yes,—that’s very well, but when it comes to saying “good night” … where do I sleep? ACTRESS There are surely a lot of other rooms in this house. POET But they don’t appeal to me. Don’t you think I had better light a candle now? ACTRESS Yes. POET (_Lights a candle, which stands upon the dressing-table_) What a charming room … and what pious people they must be. Pictures of saints everywhere… It would be interesting to spend some time among people like this … quite another world. How little we know of the lives of others! ACTRESS Don’t talk nonsense, but just give me the bag from the table. POET Here, beloved! ACTRESS (_Takes a small framed picture out of the hand-bag and puts it on the dressing-table_) POET What’s that? ACTRESS That’s the Virgin. POET Do you always carry her around with you? ACTRESS She is my talisman. And now go, Robert! POET You are joking? Can’t I help you? ACTRESS No, you must go now. POET And when may I return? ACTRESS In ten minutes. POET (_Kisses her_) Au revoir! ACTRESS Where will you go? POET I shall walk up and down under your window. I love to wander about outdoors at night time. My finest inspirations come to me that way. And especially near you, under the breath of your longing, I might call it … entwined in your art. ACTRESS You talk like an idiot… POET