(_Hurt_) There are women who might say … like a poet. ACTRESS Oh, well, but do go now. But don’t start to flirt with the waitress.— POET (_Goes_) ACTRESS (_Undresses. She hears the POET going down the wooden stairway, and, then hears his footsteps below her window. As soon as she is undressed, she goes to the window and looks down to where he stands waiting. She calls to him in a whisper_) Come! POET (_Comes quickly upstairs and runs toward her. She in the meantime has gone to bed, and extinguished the light. He locks the door_) ACTRESS So, now you may sit down beside me, and tell me a story. POET (_Sits down on the bed beside her_) Hadn’t I better close the window? Isn’t it too cold for you? ACTRESS Oh, no! POET Now, what shall I tell you? ACTRESS Tell me to whom you are unfaithful at this moment? POET I’m sorry, I’m not unfaithful yet. ACTRESS Well, if it’s any satisfaction to you, I am unfaithful to some one too. POET So I can imagine. ACTRESS And who do you suppose it is? POET But, child, how do you expect me to know? ACTRESS Guess, then. POET Wait … your manager. ACTRESS My dear man, I’m not a chorus-girl. POET Well, I am only guessing. ACTRESS Guess again. POET Then it’s your leading-man … Benno— ACTRESS Nonsense! He doesn’t care for women at all … didn’t you know that? He carries on with his postman! POET No, really!— ACTRESS Now come, kiss me. POET (_Embraces her_) ACTRESS But what are you doing? POET Why do you torment me so? ACTRESS Listen, Robert, I have a suggestion to make to you. Come lie down in bed with me. POET I accept. ACTRESS Come quickly, come quickly! POET Yes … if I had had my way, I would have been there long ago… Listen… ACTRESS What? POET The crickets are chirping outside. ACTRESS You are crazy, child, there are no crickets here. POET But surely you hear them. ACTRESS Hurry up. POET (_Beside her_) Here I am. ACTRESS Now lie quite still… Sh … don’t move… POET Yes, but why? ACTRESS You would rather like to have an affair with me? POET I should think that’s obvious by now. ACTRESS There are many who would like that… POET But it would seem that at the moment the odds are on my side… ACTRESS Then, come, my cricket! I shall call you “cricket” from now on. POET All right… ACTRESS Now, tell me, whom am I deceiving? POET Whom?… Perhaps me… ACTRESS Child, you have softening of the brain. POET Or some one … some one whom you have never seen … some one, whom you don’t even know, some one—who is predestined for you and whom you will never find… ACTRESS Please don’t talk such magnificent nonsense. POET … Isn’t it strange … you too—and yet one could think.—But no, it would destroy the best in you, if one should … come, come—come.— * * * * * ACTRESS That’s better than acting in idiotic plays… Don’t you think so? POET