I danced with her half the night. An' then we went out on the street. Well, a gentleman came along, y'understan'? Well, when I told him that I had some little business o' my own to transact with the lady an' pulled my brass-knuckles outa my breeches, o' course he took to his heels.--Then I says to her, says I: Don't you be scared. If you're peaceable an' don' make no outcry an' don' come no more to my sister axin' after the child--well, we c'n make a reel friendly bargain. So she toddled along with me a ways. MRS. JOHN Well, an' then? BRUNO Well, she didn't want to! An' all of a sudden she went for my throat that I thought it'd be the end o' me then an' there! Like a dawg she went for me hot an' heavy! An' then ... then I got a little bit excited too--an' then, well ... that's how it come ... MRS. JOHN [_Sunk in horror._] What time d'you say it was? BRUNO It must ha' been somewhere between three an' four. The moon had a big ring aroun' it. Out on the square there was a dam' cur behind the planks what got up an' howled. Then it began to drip an' soon a thunderstorm came up. MRS. JOHN [_Changed and with sudden self-mastery._] It's all right. Go on. She don' deserve no better. BRUNO Good-bye. I s'pose we ain't goin' to see each other for years an' years. MRS. JOHN Where you goin' to? BRUNO First of all I gotta lie flat on my back for a couple o' hours. I'm goin' to Fritz's. He's got a room for rent in the old police station right acrost from the Fisher's Bridge. I'm safe there all right. If there's anythin' of a outcry you c'n lemme know. MRS. JOHN Don' you want to take a peek at the child onct more? BRUNO [_Trembling._] Naw! MRS. JOHN Why not? BRUNO No, Jette, not in this here life! Good-bye, Jette. Hol' on a minute: Here I got a horseshoe. [_He puts a horseshoe on the table._] I found it. That'll bring you good luck. I don' need it. _Stealthily as he has come, BRUNO MECHELKE also disappears. MRS. JOHN, her eyes wide with horror, stares at the spot where he stood. Then she totters backward a few paces, presses her hands, clenched convulsively as if in prayer, against her mouth, and collapses, still trying in vain to stammer out a prayerful appeal to heaven._ MRS. JOHN I ain't no murderer! I ain't no murderer! I didn't want that to happen! FIFTH ACT _JOHN'S room. MRS. JOHN is asleep on the sofa. WALBURGA and SPITTA enter from the outer hall. The loud playing of a military band is heard from the street._ SPITTA No one is here. WALBURGA Oh, yes, there is, Erich. Mrs. John! She's asleep here. SPITTA [_Approaching the sofa together with WALBURGA._] Is she asleep? So she is! I don't understand how anyone can sleep amidst this noise. _The music of the band trails off into silence._ WALBURGA