PAPPELMEISTER [_Goes to DAVID with outstretched hand_] _Danke._ [_They grip hands. PAPPELMEISTER turns to QUINCY DAVENPORT._] Comic Opera! Ouf! QUINCY [_Goes to street-door, at white heat._] Are you coming, Miss Revendal? [_He opens the door._] VERA [_To QUINCY, but not moving_] Pray, pray, accept my apologies--believe me, if I had known---- QUINCY [_Furiously_] Then stop with your Jew! [_Exit._] MENDEL [_Frantically_] But, Mr. Davenport--don't go! He is only a boy. [_Exit after QUINCY DAVENPORT._] You must consider---- DAVID Oh, Herr Pappelmeister, you have lost your place! PAPPELMEISTER And saved my soul. Dollars are de devil. Now I must to an appointment. _Auf baldiges Wiedersehen._ [_He shakes DAVID'S hand._] Fräulein Revendal! [_He takes her hand and kisses it. Exit. DAVID and VERA stand gazing at each other._] VERA What have you done? What have you done? DAVID What else could I do? VERA I hate the smart set as much as you--but as your ladder and your trumpet---- DAVID I would not stand indebted to them. I know you meant it for my good, but what would these Europe-apers have understood of _my_ America--the America of my music? They look back on Europe as a pleasure ground, a palace of art--but I know [_Getting hysterical_] it is sodden with blood, red with bestial massacres---- VERA [_Alarmed, anxious_] Let us talk no more about it. [_She holds out her hand._] Good-bye. DAVID [_Frozen, taking it, holding it_] Ah, you are offended by my ingratitude--I shall never see you again. VERA No, I am not offended. But I have failed to help you. We have nothing else to meet for. [_She disengages her hand._] DAVID Why will you punish me so? I have only hurt myself. VERA It is not a _punishment_. DAVID What else? When you are with me, all the air seems to tremble with fairy music played by some unseen fairy orchestra. VERA [_Tremulous_] And yet you wouldn't come in just now when I---- DAVID I was too frightened of the others.... VERA [_Smiling_] Frightened indeed! DAVID Yes, I know I became overbold--but to take all that magic sweetness out of my life for ever--you don't call that a punishment? VERA [_Blushing_] How could I wish to punish you? I was proud of you! [_Drops her eyes, murmurs_] Besides it would be punishing _myself_. DAVID [_In passionate amaze_] Miss Revendal!... But no, it cannot be. It is too impossible. VERA [_Frightened_] Yes, too impossible. Good-bye. [_She turns._] DAVID But not for always? [_VERA hangs her head. He comes nearer. Passionately_] Promise me that you--that I---- [_He takes her hand again._] VERA [_Melting at his touch, breathes_] Yes, yes, David. DAVID Miss Revendal! [_She falls into his arms._] VERA My dear! my dear! DAVID It is a dream. You cannot care for me--you so far above me. VERA Above you, you simple boy? Your genius lifts you to the stars. DAVID No, no; it is you who lift me there----