What have I got left of it? What does it amount to? A woman who has no child has never been a woman. But a woman who once might have had one--who should have had one, and who--(_with a glance at him_)--has never become a mother, she is nothing but--oh! But that's what a man cannot understand! It is what not one of them can understand! In this respect the very best one of the lot will always remain something of a cad. Is there one of you who knows how many of his own offspring have been set adrift in the world? I know at least that there are none of mine. Can you say as much? JULIAN And if I did know.... IRENE How? Have you got one really?--Oh, speak, please! You can tell _me,_ Julian, can't you? Where is it? How old is it? A boy? Or a girl? JULIAN Don't question me.... Even if I had a child, it wouldn't belong to you anyhow. IRENE He has a child! He has a child! (_Pause_) Why do you permit it to be drifting around in the world then? JULIAN You yourself have given the explanation: in this respect the very best of us remains always something of a cad. And I am not the best one at that. IRENE Why don't you go and get it? JULIAN How could it be any of my concern? How could I dare to make it my concern? Oh, that's enough.... (_Pause_) Do you want another cup of tea? IRENE No, thanks. No more now. (_Pause; it is growing darker_) He has a child, and I have never known it! (_Protracted silence_) VALET (_enters_) JULIAN What is it? VALET Lieutenant Wegrat asks if you are at home, sir? JULIAN Certainly. Ask him in. VALET (_goes out after having turned on the light_) IRENE Young Wegrat?--I thought he had already left again.--The poor chap! He seemed utterly stunned. JULIAN I can imagine. IRENE You visited him at Salzburg? JULIAN Yes, I happened to be there a couple of days last August. FELIX (_enters, dressed as a civilian_) Good evening.--Good evening, Miss Herms. IRENE Good evening, Lieutenant. JULIAN My dear Felix--I was going to call on you--this very evening. It's extremely nice of you to take the trouble. FELIX I have to be off again the day after to-morrow, and so I wasn't sure whether I could find any chance at all to see you. JULIAN Won't you take off your coat?--Think of it, I didn't have the slightest idea.... It was Sala who told me--less than an hour ago. [_Irene is looking from one to the other._ FELIX We didn't dream of this when we took that walk in the Mirabell Gardens[4] last summer. [4] The palace of Mirabell is one of the sights of Salzburg, the city near the Bavarian border, where Felix's regiment was stationed. It is now used as a museum. The gardens adjoining it are of the formal type so dear to, and so characteristic of, the eighteenth century. JULIAN Was it very sudden? FELIX Yes. And I, who couldn't be with her.... Late that evening I had to leave, and she died during the night. IRENE Say rather that she didn't wake up again next morning. FELIX