That's where you are right, Mr. von Sala.--By the by, I was to give you the regards of Lieutenant-Colonel Schrotting. SALA Thank you. Does he still remember me? FELIX Not he alone. We are constantly being reminded of you--at every meal, in fact. Yours is among the pictures of former officers that hang in the mess rooms. WEGRAT (_enters_) Good evening.--Why, Felix, are you here again? What a surprise! FELIX Good evening, papa. I have applied for a two-day furlough. WEGRAT Furlough ... furlough? A real one? Or is it another one of those little brilliant tricks? FELIX (_cheerfully and without taking offence_) I am not in the habit of fibbing, papa, am I? WEGRAT (_in the same tone_) I meant no offense, my boy. Even if you had been guilty of deserting the flag, your longing to see your mother would be sufficient excuse for you. MRS. WEGRAT To see his parents, you mean. WEGRAT Of course--to see us all. But as you are a little under the weather, you come foremost just now.--Well, how are you getting along, Gabrielle? Better, are you not? (_In a low voice, almost timidly_) My love.... (_He strokes her brow and hair_) Love.... The air is so mild. SALA We are having a wonderful Autumn. REUMANN Have you just got away from the Academy, Professor? WEGRAT Yes. Now, when I am also the president of it, there is a whole lot to do--and all of it is not pleasant or grateful. But I seem to be made for it, as they have insisted. And I suppose it will have to go on this way. (_With a smile_) As somebody once called me--an art-official. SALA Don't be so unjust to yourself, Professor. MRS. WEGRAT You must have been walking all that long way home again? WEGRAT I even went out of my way some distance--to pass across the old Turkish fort.[2] I am awfully fond of that road. On evenings like this the whole city lies beneath you as if bathed in a silvery mist.--By the by, Gabrielle, I have some greetings to deliver. I met Irene Herms. [2] The place where the Turks fortified themselves before driven from Vienna by John Sobieski in 1683 is now a small park, "_Tuerkenschanz-Park_," located in Doebling, one of the northwestern quarters of Greater Vienna. Only a little ways south of this park, and overlooking it, stands the Astronomical Observatory, not far from which Schnitzler has been living for a number of years. Numerous references to localities in this play indicate that he has placed the Wegrat home in that very villa quarter of Waehring, where he himself is so thoroughly at home. MRS. WEGRAT Is she in Vienna? WEGRAT Just passing through. She intends to call on you. SALA Has she still got an engagement at Hamburg? WEGRAT No, she has left the stage, she told me, and is now living in the country with her married sister. JOHANNA I saw her once in a play of yours, Mr. von Sala. SALA Then you must have been a very small girl indeed. JOHANNA She played a Spanish princess.