... and tell her, please, that she mustn't be angry with me for having taken such a step without her knowledge. Of course, my going away won't surprise her. When leaving her yesterday, I told her that I couldn't continue this kind of existence. AMADEUS And she...? What did she say? SIGISMUND (_hesitatingly_) She.... AMADEUS (_excited again_) She tried to keep you here...? SIGISMUND Yes. AMADEUS So that after all...! SIGISMUND Now she won't try any longer, my dear Master. (_With a wistful smile_) I have served my purpose. AMADEUS What do you mean? SIGISMUND Oh, I can see now why she needed me--of course, you were not at all aware of it! AMADEUS Why did she need you? SIGISMUND Simply and solely as a means of winning you back. AMADEUS What makes you think...? SIGISMUND What...? That she has succeeded. AMADEUS No, Sigismund--she hadn't lost me--in spite of all that had happened. In fact, I feel as if I had rather lost her than she--me. SIGISMUND That's awfully kind of you. But now--God be with you! AMADEUS (_with something like emotion_) And when shall we see you again? SIGISMUND I don't know. Perhaps never.---Please don't imagine that I might take my own life. I shall get over it, being still young.--Oh, my dear Master, if things could only become what they used to be, so that I could sit here at the fireplace while Cecilia was singing--or hammer away at the piano after supper...! AMADEUS Don't be quite so modest, please! The fame of your piano playing has reached Berlin even, I hear. SIGISMUND So she has told you that, too?!--But you see, dear Master, all that can never come back--we could no longer feel at ease with each other.... So--never to meet again! AMADEUS Never.... Why? Perhaps I shall see you very soon alone. I am also--going away. SIGISMUND I know. We were talking of it yesterday, in the dining car. You are to conduct your--number-which-one is it now? AMADEUS The fourth. SIGISMUND So you have got that far already?--And where are you going anyhow? AMADEUS To the Rhine district first of all; then by way of Munich to Italy--Venice, Milan, Rome. SIGISMUND Rome...? There we may possibly meet. But you'll have to pardon me for not coming to your concerts. So far I have not been able to understand your symphonies.... But I am sure I shall sometime! One does grow more and more clever, and sorrow and experiences in particular have a maturing influence.... "Now he's making fun of it," I suppose you are thinking. But, really, I am not in a very humorous mood. Farewell, my dear Master--and my most respectful compliments to your wife. (_He goes out_)