Well, what would you guess? COUNT Twenty-four. GIRL Oh, of course! COUNT Older? GIRL I’m not yet twenty. COUNT And how long have you been… GIRL A year. COUNT You began early. GIRL Better too early, than too late. COUNT (_Sits down upon her bed_) Tell me, are you really happy? GIRL Am I, what? COUNT I mean, are things going well with you? GIRL Oh, things always go well with me. COUNT Yes… Well, did it never occur to you that you might become something else? GIRL What might I become? COUNT Well… You are a very pretty girl. You might take a lover, for example. GIRL Do you imagine I haven’t any? COUNT Yes, I know that—But I mean just one single one, who would take care of you, so that you wouldn’t have to go with everybody. GIRL I don’t go with everybody. Thank heaven, I don’t have to. I pick those I want. COUNT (_Looks around the room_) GIRL (_Noticing it_) We move downtown next month, to the Spiegelgasse. COUNT We? Who? GIRL Well, the Madam, and the couple of other girls who live here. COUNT There are others— GIRL Next door … don’t you hear?… that is Milly. She was in the café too. COUNT I hear some one snoring. GIRL That’s Milly. She will snore the whole day long until ten o’clock to-night. Then she gets up, and goes to the café. COUNT What an awful life! GIRL Of course it is. It annoys the Madam a lot. I’m always on the streets by noon. COUNT What do you do on the streets at noon? GIRL What do you suppose I do? I’m going on my beat then. COUNT Oh, yes … of course… (_Rises, takes out his wallet, and puts a banknote on the table_) Good-by! GIRL Going already… Good-by… Call again soon. (_Turns on her side_) COUNT (_Stands still_) Tell me, is everything a matter of indifference to you already? GIRL What? COUNT I mean, don’t you get pleasure out of anything any more? GIRL (_Yawning_) I want to sleep. COUNT It’s all the same to you whether he is young or old or whether he… GIRL Why do you ask? COUNT … Well (_Suddenly hitting upon a thought_) ’pon my soul, now I know of whom you remind me, it’s… GIRL Do I look like some one? COUNT Unbelievable, unbelievable. Now please, don’t talk, at least not for a minute… (_Looking at her_) The very same features. (_He kisses her suddenly on the eyes_), the very image. GIRL Well… COUNT ’Pon my soul, it’s too bad that you … aren’t something different… You could make your fortune! GIRL You talk just like Frank. COUNT Who is Frank? GIRL The waiter in our café. COUNT In what way am I just like Frank? GIRL He is also always telling me I might make my fortune, and wanting me to marry him. COUNT Why don’t you? GIRL No thank you… I don’t want to marry, no, not for any price… Later on, perhaps. COUNT The eyes … the very same eyes… Bobby would surely call me a fool.—But I must kiss your eyes once more … so … and now God bless you, now I must go. GIRL Good-by… COUNT