CASTI-PIANI--[_Shrieking._] The last straw! [_A shot._ ELFRIEDE _utters a piercing yell_. CASTI-PIANI, _the smoking revolver in his right hand, his left pressed convulsively to his breast, totters to one of the arm-chairs and breaks down in it_.] CASTI-PIANI--I--I beg your pardon--Baroness. I’ve--I’ve hurt myself.--That was not--not gallant of me---- ELFRIEDE--[_Bending over him._] God have mercy, you haven’t hit yourself with it?! CASTI-PIANI--Don’t--don’t hurt my ears--shrieking! Be loving--loving--loving--if you can---- ELFRIEDE--[_Stands up in horror, both hands in her hair, stares at him and screams._] No! No! No! I =can’t= be loving with this sight before me! I =can’t= be loving! [_Directly after the shot, three slim young girls, dressed exactly like_ LISISKA, _have curiously one after the other stepped out of the three doors. Hesitatingly they approach_ CASTI-PIANI, _and, with the minimum of action or emotion, gesturing silently among themselves, they essay to ease his death-struggles. He looks up and sees them._] CASTI-PIANI--And that--and that--ve-vengeance? Spirits of vengeance?--No! No!--That--that is Marushka! I see you now. That is Euphemia!--That, Theophila!-- --Marushka! Kiss me, Marushka! [_The slenderest of the three girls bends over_ CASTI-PIANI _and kisses him on the mouth_.] No! [_In anguish._] No! No! That wasn’t anything!--Kiss--kiss me differently! [_She kisses him again._]--So!--So, so, so!--I have de-deceived you [_slowly raising himself, supported by_ MARUSHKA]--deceived you all! The joy of the senses--torture--bloody agony!-- --At last--at last--deliverance! [_He stands, straight and stiff, as though seized with catalepsy, his eyes very wide open._] We--we must receive--His Worship-- --standing.... [_He falls dead._] ELFRIEDE--[_Drowned in tears, to the three girls._] Well?--Is none of you girls brave enough to do it? You were more to this man than I was permitted to be! [_The three girls shake their heads and withdraw shyly, frightened, but cold and impassive._ ELFRIEDE, _sobbing, turns to the corpse_:] Then forgive me miserable! While you were alive, you abhorred me with all your soul! Forgive me that I come near you now! [_Kisses him passionately on the mouth. Breaking into a flood of tears_.] This last disillusion, even in your fearfullest blackest pessimism you can never have conceived,--that a =virgin= was to close your eyes! [_She closes his eyes and sinks, weeping piteously, at his feet._] CURTAIN Transcriber’s Notes • Italics represented by _underscores_. • Small caps converted to ALL CAPS. • Gespert text (words with intraletter spacing) represented with =equal signs=. • Obvious typographic erros silently corrected. • Variations in hyphenation and punctuation kept as in the original. • Footnotes numbered consecutively and relocated to the end of each play.