Not at all. If you will only remember. Once we made an excursion to Dornbach[3]--my parents, and Felix, and I. There we met you and Mr. Fichtner, and it happened on the very spot where your house was to be built. And now everything looks just as you described it to us then. [3] A suburb near the western limits of Vienna and not far from the location indicated for the Wegrat home. SALA But how did you happen to be in that vicinity? JOHANNA Since mamma was taken sick I have often had to take my walks alone.... SALA And when was it you passed by my house? JOHANNA Not long ago--to-day. SALA To-day? JOHANNA Yes. I went all around it. SALA Oh? All around it?--Did you also notice the little gate that leads directly into the woods? JOHANNA Yes.--But from that spot the house is almost invisible. The leafage is very thick.--Where have you placed those busts of the Roman emperors? SALA They stand on columns at the opening of an avenue of trees. Right by is a small marble bench, and in front of the bench a little pool has been made. JOHANNA (_nodding_) Just as you told us that time.... And there is a greenish gray glitter on the water--and in the morning the shadow from the beech tree falls across it.... I know. (_She looks up at him and smiles; both go out together_) CURTAIN THE SECOND ACT _In the home of Julian Fichtner. A pleasant, rather distinguished room in a state of slight disorder. Books are piled on two chairs, while on another chair stands an open traveling bag. Julian is seated at a writing desk, from the drawers of which he is taking out papers. Some of these he destroys, while others are thrown into the waste-paper basket._ VALET (_announcing_) Mr. von Sala. (_He goes out_) SALA (_enters. His custom to walk up and down while talking asserts itself strikingly during the following scene. Now and then he sits down for a moment, often only on the arm of a chair. At times he stops beside Julian, putting his hand on the latter's shoulder while speaking. Two or three times during the scene he puts his hand to the left side of his chest, in a manner suggesting discomfort of some kind. But this gesture is not sharply accentuated_) JULIAN I am delighted. (_They shake hands_) SALA So you got back early this morning? JULIAN Yes. SALA And mean to stay...? JULIAN Haven't decided yet. Things are a little upset, as you see. And I fear they'll never be quite in shape again. I intend to give up this place. SALA Too bad. I have become so accustomed to it. In what direction are you going to move? JULIAN It's possible that I don't take any new quarters at all for a while, but just keep on moving about as I have been doing the last few years. I am even considering to have my things sold at auction. SALA That's a thought which gets no sympathy from me. JULIAN