Doctor, I'm goin' to ax you somethin' now: d'you know any cure for jealousy? You see, it's this way: We had a baby, an' I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't mighty well pleased. An' why shouldn't I be? But now my wife is sick. She can't get up an' she don't want me to budge from the side o' her bed. She screams an' she scolds an' she reproaches me. Sometimes I reely don't know what to do no more. MRS. SCHULZE You better go upstairs a bit first. EDE Do give him a chance to get his breath! LANGHEINRICH Oh, pshaw! Never you mind! I c'n attend to that right off. [_After he has taken off his hat and coat and slipped on wooden shoes he hurries into the house._ EDE Well, what d'you think o' that? DR. BOXER He's a cheerful soul--more so, if possible, than he used to be. It does one good to find a man that way. EDE Only that I axed after Leontine, that riled him more'n a little bit all right. MRS. SCHULZE [_To EDE, watchfully:_] Where was the boss so early this mornin'? EDE In Lichtenberg, attendin' a dance. MRS. SCHULZE The treatment that woman's gettin' is all wrong, Doctor. I don't mix in what don't concern me. But the way she's treated, that ain't no kind o' treatment, I c'n tell you. I told that Majunke man too that the missis was goin' to the dogs this way. DR. BOXER But Dr. Majunke is very capable. I know him to be an excellent physician. MRS. SCHULZE [_Interrupting._] Sure, sure, an' that's true. 'Course he's capable. That's right, an' so he is. But, you see, he just won't prescribe nothin' ... DR. BOXER What should he prescribe? Let the people save their money. MRS. SCHULZE But that's just what people don't want to do. It's like this: medicine's got to be. If there ain't none they says: how c'n the doctor help us? DR. BOXER Mrs. Langheinrich never was strong. Even years ago when she used to sew for us ... MRS. SCHULZE That's the way it is. She's a little bit humpbacked; that's right. That's the way women is, though, Doctor! A seamstress--that's what she was...! She sewed an' she sewed and saved up a little money...! An' what kind of a bargain is it she's got now. A handsome feller an' sickness an' worry an' no rest no more by day or night. _LANGHEINRICH returns from the house._ LANGHEINRICH [_Tapping MRS. SCHULZE'S shoulder somewhat roughly._] Hurry now! Go on up! It's all arranged an' settled. To-morrow I'm goin' to take her to the clinic. MRS. SCHULZE That ain't goin' to be no easy work! LANGHEINRICH [_Lifts a great can of water to his mouth._] I can't help that. Things is as they is. [_He takes an enormously long draught from the tin can. Putting it down:_] Ede, drive them ducks away! EDE [_Acting as though he were driving away ducks, flaps his leathern apron and rattles his wooden shoes._] Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Chuck! Chuck! Chuck! _MRS. SCHULZE retires into the house, shaking her head._ LANGHEINRICH