Not a bit, can they! An' that wouldn't do. How many contracts has you been makin'? I mean about furnishin' people with shoes. You got to have somethin' to start with! MRS. FIELITZ Can't you leave the man in peace! FIELITZ You just go in my room; there you c'n see letters an' contracts lyin' around--packages an' heaps o' them! EDE [_Looks into the adjoining room._] I don't see nothin'. LANGHEINRICH Tear up the floorin': you'll find the docyments hidden there. People has got to have their business secrets! FIELITZ O' course they has! An' whippersnappers don't know much about that. Go an' learn how to read an' write before you go an' mix in my business. MRS. FIELITZ Come, Fielitz, let them be! Don't lose your temper. You know as Langheinrich has got to have his joke! That's the way the man is made. LANGHEINRICH I do feel pretty jolly to-day, an' that's a fac'! I got a piece o' work done. An' if I don't go an' fall down from the steeple when I puts it up--I'll go an' christen this here occasion. An' I won't use water. MRS. FIELITZ Are you goin' to put it up yourself? LANGHEINRICH You c'n take your oath on that! An' why not? Schmarowski, he designed it. But I forged it an' I'll put it up. _LEONTINE enters._ LEONTINE You better let Schmarowski do that himself. EDE Schmarowski ain't afraid o' anything shaky. LANGHEINRICH No, that's as true as can be, I know. He ain't afraid o' God nor the devil. That little man ... I tell you, Bismarck is just a coward alongside o' him! FIELITZ I'd like to make a inquiry: who is it that built that there new house? LANGHEINRICH Well, who did? FIELITZ Me! An' not Schmarowski. EDE Well, that's certain! We all knows that, Mr. Fielitz. FIELITZ Right up from the foundation! Me an' nobody but me! That there is my land, my bricks, my money! All the insurance money's been sunk into that. Ax mother here if that ain't the fac'! [_Laughter._ MRS. FIELITZ Oh, Lord, Fielitz! Can't you let that be? Has you got to tell them old stories all over again? FIELITZ That I has! I got to prove that, mother! I got to let them people know who I is! Watch out, I tell you, when I makes my speech to-day! MRS. FIELITZ Schmarowski says there ain't goin' to be no speech makin'. FIELITZ You can't go an' tie up my tongue, an' Schmarowski can't do it neither! [_He withdraws into the adjoining little room._ LANGHEINRICH You better look out, ole lady, an' see that there ain't no bloody row raised. There's talk now o' some people wantin' to get ugly. Better be a bit careful! MRS. FIELITZ All you gotta do is to keep your eye on him a bit. Treat him to drinks from the beginnin'. I can't keep that man in order to-day. He's bound to go to the festival. LANGHEINRICH Schmarowski got a drubbin' yesterday. EDE Last night, yes, after the people's meetin'. MRS. FIELITZ Maybe he went an' gave it to 'em a bit too hot. LANGHEINRICH