MENDEL I knew it was crazy--it is supposed to be about America or a Crucible or something. And of course there are heaps of mistakes. VERA That is why I am suggesting to Mr. Davenport to send him to Germany. QUINCY I'll send as many Jews as you like to Germany. Ha! Ha! Ha! PAPPELMEISTER [_Absorbed, turning pages_] _Ach!--ach!--So!_ QUINCY I'd even lend my own yacht to take 'em back. Ha! Ha! Ha! VERA Sh! We're disturbing Herr Pappelmeister. QUINCY Oh, Poppy's all right. PAPPELMEISTER [_Sublimely unconscious_] _Ach so--so--SO! Das ist etwas neues!_ [_His umbrella begins to beat time, moving more and more vigorously, till at last he is conducting elaborately, stretching out his left palm for pianissimo passages, and raising it vigorously for forte, with every now and then an exclamation._] _Wunderschön!... pianissimo!_--now the flutes! Clarinets! _Ach, ergötzlich_ ... bassoons and drums!... _Fortissimo!... Kolossal! Kolossal!_ [_Conducting in a fury of enthusiasm._] VERA [_Clapping her hands_] Bravo! Bravo! I'm so excited! QUINCY [_Yawning_] Then it isn't bad, Poppy? PAPPELMEISTER [_Not listening, never ceasing to conduct_] _Und_ de harp solo ... _ach, reizend!_ ... Second violins----! QUINCY But Poppy! We can't be here all day. PAPPELMEISTER [_Not listening, continuing pantomime action_] Sh! Sh! _Piano._ QUINCY [_Outraged_] Sh to _me_! [_Rises._] VERA He doesn't know it's you. QUINCY But look here, Poppy---- [_He seizes the wildly-moving umbrella. Blank stare of PAPPELMEISTER gradually returning to consciousness._] PAPPELMEISTER _Was giebt's...?_ QUINCY We've had enough. PAPPELMEISTER [_Indignant_] Enough? Enough? Of such a beaudiful symphony? QUINCY It may be beautiful to you, but to us it's damn dull. See here, Poppy, if you're satisfied that the young fellow has sufficient talent to be sent to study in Germany---- PAPPELMEISTER In Germany! Germany has nodings to teach him, he has to teach Germany. VERA Bravo! [_She springs up._] MENDEL I always said he was a genius! QUINCY Well, at that rate you could put this stuff of his in one of my programmes. _Sinfonia Americana_, eh? VERA Oh, that _is_ good of you. PAPPELMEISTER I should be broud to indroduce it to de vorld. VERA And will it be played in that wonderful marble music-room overlooking the Hudson? QUINCY Sure. Before five hundred of the smartest folk in America. MENDEL Oh, thank you, thank you. That will mean fame! QUINCY And dollars. Don't forget the dollars. MENDEL I'll run and tell him. [_He hastens into the kitchen, PAPPELMEISTER is re-absorbed in the MS., but no longer conducting._] QUINCY You see, I'll help even a Jew for your sake. VERA Hush! [_Indicating PAPPELMEISTER._] QUINCY Oh, Poppy's in the moon. VERA You must help him for his own sake, for art's sake. QUINCY And why not for heart's sake--for my sake? [_He comes nearer._]