There are the troops already.--Would you be so kind, Herr von Wolters--? Please let no one come in here. (v. Wolters _bows and hurries out at the right._) May I take you out the back way, my lady? No one will see you--or at least, only my mother. (_As the heavy steps of the soldiers are heard, to herself, in suppressed agony._) And meanwhile--they will--take the coffin--away! (_Regaining possession of herself._) But wouldn't it be better to drop your veil? (The Lady _does so._) And your roses--do take them! (The Lady _snatches the roses from her hand._) This way, please. (_She opens the door at the left and goes out slowly behind_ The Lady, _her eyes turned longingly toward the room behind._) Curtain. IV THE FAR-AWAY PRINCESS A COMEDY IN ONE ACT CHARACTERS The Princess von Geldern. Baroness von Brook, her maid of honour. Frau von Halldorf. Liddy \ > her daughters Milly / Fritz Struebel, a student. Frau Lindemann. Rosa, a waitress. A Lackey. The Present Day. _The scene is laid at an inn situated above a watering-place in central Germany._ THE FAR-AWAY PRINCESS _The veranda of an inn. The right side of the stage and half of the background represent a framework of glass enclosing the veranda. The left side and the other half of the background represent the stone walls of the house. To the left, in the foreground, a door; another door in the background, at the left. On the left, back, a buffet and serving-table. Neat little tables and small iron chairs for visitors are placed about the veranda. On the right, in the centre, a large telescope, standing on a tripod, is directed through an open window_. Rosa, _dressed in the costume of the country, is arranging flowers on the small tables_. Frau Lindemann, _a handsome, stoutish woman in the thirties, hurries in excitedly from the left_. Frau Lindemann. There! Now she can come--curtains, bedding--everything fresh and clean as new! No, this honour, this unexpected honour--! Barons and counts have been here often enough. Even the Russian princes sometimes come up from the Springs. I don't bother my head about them--they're just like--that!--But a princess--a real princess! Rosa. Perhaps it isn't a real princess after all. Frau Lindemann (_indignantly_). What? What do you mean by that! Rosa. I was only thinking that a real princess wouldn't be coming to an inn like this. Real princesses won't lie on anything but silks and velvets. You just wait and see; it's a trick! Frau Lindemann.