Nobody won't believe me that I had a baby. My intended he wrote me a letter an' he says it ain't true an' that I'm a liar an' a low creature. [_She touches the pillow on which the infant is resting._] It's mine an' I'll prove it in court! I c'n swear it by the holy Mother o' God. HASSENREUTER Do uncover the child. [_It is done and HASSENREUTER observes the infant attentively._]--H-m, the matter will not remain long in obscurity. In the first place ... I know Mrs. John. If she had had this child in board it could never look as it does. And that is true quite simply because, where it is a question of children, Mrs. John has her heart in the right place. PAULINE I want to see Mrs. John. That's all I says. I don't has to tell my business to everybody in the world. I c'n tell everythin' in court, down to the least thing--the day an' the hour an' jus' exackly the place where it was born! People is goin' to open their eyes; you c'n believe me. HASSENREUTER What you assert, then, if I understand you rightly, is that Mrs. John has no baby of her own at all, and that the one which passes as such is in reality yours. PAULINE God strike me dead if that ain't the truth! HASSENREUTER And this is the child in question? I trust that God won't take you at your word this time.--You must know that I, who stand before you, am manager Hassenreuter and I have personally had in my own hands the child of Mrs. John, my charwoman, on three or four occasions. I even weighed it on the scales and found it to weigh over eight pounds. This poor little creature doesn't weigh over four pounds. And on the basis of this fact I can assure you that this child is not, at least, the child of Mrs. John. You may be right in asserting that it is yours. I am in no position to throw doubt on that. But I know Mrs. John's child and I am quite sure that it is, in no wise, identical with this. MRS. KIELBACKE [_Respectfully._] No, no; that's right enough. It ain't identical. PAULINE This baby here is identical enough all right, even if it's a bit underfed an' weakly. This business with the child is all straight enough! I'll take an oath that it's identical all right. HASSENREUTER I am simply speechless. [_To his pupils._] Our lesson is ruled by an evil star to-day, my dear boys. I don't know why, but the error which these ladies are making engrosses me. [_To the women._] You may have entered the wrong door. MRS. KIELBACKE No, me an' the gentleman from the guardian's office an' the young lady went an' fetched this here child outa the room what has the name plate o' Mrs. John on it, an' took it out into the hall. Mrs. John wasn't there an' her husband the mason is absent in Hamburg. _POLICEMAN SCHIERKE comes in, fat and good-natured._ HASSENREUTER Ah, there's Mr. Schierke! What do you want here? SCHIERKE I understand, sir, that two women fled up here to you. MRS. KIELBACKE We ain't fled at all. HASSENREUTER They were inquiring for Mrs. John. SCHIERKE