Councillor of Commerce Muhlingk Amalie _His wife_ Kurt \ > _Their children_ Leonore / Lothar Brandt Hugo Stengel Count Von Trast-Saarberg Robert Heinecke Old Heinecke His Wife Auguste \ > _Their daughters_ Alma / Michalski _A joiner, Auguste's husband_ Frau Hebenstreit _The_ \ _Gardener's wife_ \ > _In Muhlingk's service_ Wilhelm _A servant_ / Johann _Coachman_ / Indian Servant of Count Trast _The action takes place in the vicinity of Charlottenburg, now a part of Berlin_. HONOR ACT I. Scene:--_A room in_ Heinecke's _house--The cheap, lower middle-class decorations and tawdry furnishings are in sharp contrast with two silk-upholstered arm-chairs, which are covered during the first part of the act--and a large gilded mirror. A chest of drawers and several shelves are covered with various worn articles of household use. To the right of the spectator, below the traditional German sofa, is a table with a coffee service. To the left is a long, rough-hewn work-table; upon it are pieces of cardboard, a pile of cardboard boxes and a large paste-pot. Beside the table is a workstool._ (Frau Heinecke _is busily engaged in cleaning the room_. Frau Hebenstreit _stands on the threshold of the door to the left_.) Frau Hebenstreit. So it's really true?--Your son is home? Frau Heinecke. Sh! sh!--for the Lord's sake--he's asleep! Frau Hebenstreit. There is Alma's bedroom? Frau Heinecke. Yes!--I don't know what I'm about!--I'm actually dizzy from joy! (_Drops into_ the work-stool) Frau Hebenstreit. Do the folks on the avenue know about it yet?[1] Frau Heinecke. He had to report to 'em to-day because they're his boss. To-morrow he'll make the visit. Frau Hebenstreit. How long has he been gone, anyway? Frau Heinecke. Seven--eight--nine and a half years. It's as long as that since I've seen my boy! (_She sobs_) Frau Hebenstreit. And did you recognize him right off? Frau Heinecke. Well, how should I? Last night about eight--Heinecke was half asleep over the Lokal Anzeiger.[2] and I'm sitting there sewing a lace hem on Alma's underwaist,--that girl's always got to have something new for her underwear!--Well, all of a sudden there was a knock, and a man come in, and Lord save us if there didn't stand a gentleman, a fine gentleman in a beaver coat--there it hangs!--just feel that beaverskin once!--I thought to myself: it's one of Alma's swell acquaintances, one of young Herr Kurt's friends---- Frau Hebenstreit. (_Listening attentively_) Ah----