[_Wrought up, with tear-stained eyes, holding her handkerchief against her mouth. From the middle door, by which she has entered, she takes a few hasty steps to the left and listens at the door of HOFFMANN'S room._] Oh, don't go! [_Hearing nothing there, she hastens over to the door of the conservatory, where she also listens for a few moments with tense expression. Folding her hands and in a tone of impassioned beseeching._] Oh, don't go! Don't go! THE CURTAIN FALLS THE SECOND ACT _It is about four o'clock in the morning. The windows in the inn are still lit. Through the gateway comes in the twilight of a pallid dawn which, in the course of the action, develops into a ruddy glow, and this, in its turn, gradually melts into bright daylight. Under the gateway, on the ground, sits BEIPST and sharpens his scythe. As the curtain rises, little more is visible than his dark outline which is defined against the morning sky, but one hears the monotonous, uninterrupted and regular beat of the scythe hammer on the anvil. For some minutes this is the only sound audible. Then follows the solemn silence of the morning, broken by the cries of roysterers who are leaving the inn. The inn-door is slammed with a crash. The lights in the windows go out. A distant barking of dogs is heard and a loud, confused crowing of cocks. On the path from the inn to the house a dark figure becomes visible which reels in zigzag lines toward the farmyard. It is FARMER KRAUSE, who, as always, has been the last to leave the inn._ FARMER KRAUSE [_Has reeled against the fence, clings to it for support with both hands, and roars with a somewhat nasal, drunken voice back at the inn._] The garden'sh mine ... the inn'sh mi-ine ... ash of a' inn-keeper! Hi-hee! [_After mumbling and growling unintelligibly he frees himself from the fence and staggers into the yard, where, luckily, he gets hold of the handles of a plough._] The farm'sh mi'ine. [_He drivels, half singing._] Drink ... o ... lil' brother, drink ... o ... lil' brother ... brandy'sh good t' give courash. Hi-hee--[_roaring aloud_]--ain' I a han'some man ... Ain' I got a han'some wife?... Ain' I got a couple o' han'some gals? HELEN [_Comes swiftly from the house. It is plain that she has only slipped on such garments as, in her hurry, she could find._] Papa!... dear papa!! Do come in! [_She supports him by one arm, tries to lead him and draw him toward the house._] Oh, do come ... do please come ... quick ... quick ... Come, oh, do, _do_ come! FARMER KRAUSE