SCHIGOLCH. Down in the street-lamp's shimmer she's still a match for a dozen walking spectres. The man who still wants to make connections at this hour looks out more for heart-qualities than mere physical good points. He decides for the pair of eyes from which the least thievery sparkles. LULU. (_Now as pleased as Alva._) I shall see if you're right. Adieu. ALVA. (_In sudden anger._) You shall not go down again, as I live! GESCHWITZ. Where do you want to go? ALVA. Down to fetch up a man. GESCHWITZ. Lulu! ALVA. She's done it once to-day already. GESCHWITZ. Lulu, Lulu, where you go I go too. SCHIGOLCH. If you want to put your bones up for sale, kindly get a district of your own! GESCHWITZ. Lulu, I shall not stir from your side! I have weapons upon me. SCHIGOLCH. Confound it all, her ladyship plots to fish with our bait! LULU. You're killing me. I can't stand it here any more. (_Exit._) GESCHWITZ. You need fear nothing. I am with you. (_Follows her._) ALVA. (_Whimpering, throws himself on his couch. Schigolch swears, loudly and grumbling._) I guess there's not much more good to expect on this side! SCHIGOLCH. We ought to have held the creature back by the throat. She'll scare away everything that breathes with her aristocratic death's head. ALVA. She's flung me onto a sick-bed and larded me with thorns outside and in! SCHIGOLCH. And she's still got enough strength in her body to do the same for ten men alright. ALVA. No mortally wounded man'll ever find the stab of mercy welcomer than I! SCHIGOLCH. If she hadn't enticed the acrobat to my place that time, we'd have him round our necks to-day too. ALVA. I see it swinging above my head as Tantalus saw the branch with the golden apples! SCHIGOLCH. (_On his mattress._) Won't you turn up the lamp a little? ALVA. Can a simple, natural man in the wilderness suffer so unspeakably?!--God, God, what have I made of my life! SCHIGOLCH. What's the beastly weather made of my ulster! When I was five-and-twenty, I knew how to help myself! ALVA. It has not cost everyone my sunny, glorious youth! SCHIGOLCH. I guess it'll go out in a minute. Till they come back it'll be as dark in here again as in mother's womb. ALVA. With the clearest consciousness of my purpose I sought intercourse with people who'd never read a book in their lives. With self-denial, with exaltation, I clung to the elements, that I might be carried to the loftiest heights of poetic fame. The reckoning was false. I am the martyr of my calling. Since the death of my father I have not written a single line! SCHIGOLCH. If only they haven't stayed together! Nobody but a silly boy will go with two, no matter what. ALVA. They've not stayed together! SCHIGOLCH. That's what I hope. If need be, she'll keep the creature off from her with kicks. ALVA. One, risen from the dregs, is the most celebrated man of his nation; another, born in the purple, lies in the mud and cannot die! SCHIGOLCH. Here they come!