LULU--Now it’s going to be about me! DR. GOLL--Our Apelles is already wiping his brushes. LULU--I had imagined this would be much more amusing. SCHÖN--But you have always the satisfaction of preparing for us the greatest and rarest pleasure. LULU--[_Going left._] Oh, just wait! SCHWARZ--[_Before the bedroom door._] If madame will be so kind.... [_Shuts the door after her and stands in front of it._] DR. GOLL--I christened her Nellie, you know, in our marriage-contract. SCHÖN--Did you?--Yes. DR. GOLL--What do you think of it? SCHÖN--Why not call her rather Mignon? DR. GOLL--That would have been good, too. I didn’t think of that. SCHÖN--Do you consider the name so important? DR. GOLL--Hm.... You know, I have no children. SCHÖN--But you’ve only been married a couple of months. DR. GOLL--Thanks, I don’t want any. SCHÖN--[_Having taken out his cigarette-case._] Have a cigarette? DR. GOLL--[_Helps himself._] I’ve plenty to do with this one. [_To_ SCHWARZ.] Say, what’s your little danseuse doing now? SCHÖN--[_Turning round on_ SCHWARZ.] You and a danseuse? SCHWARZ--The lady was sitting for me at that time only as a favor. I made her acquaintance on a flying trip of the Cecilia Society. DR. GOLL--[_To_ SCHÖN.] Hm.... I think we’re getting a change of weather. SCHÖN--The toilet isn’t going so quickly, is it? DR. GOLL--It’s going like lightning! Woman has got to be a virtuoso in her job. So must we all, each in his job, if life isn’t to turn to beggary. [_Calls._] Hop, Nellie! LULU--[_Inside._] Just a second! DR. GOLL--[_To_ SCHÖN.] I can’t get onto these blockheads. [_Referring to_ SCHWARZ.] SCHÖN--I can’t help envying them. These blockheads know of nothing holier than an altar-cloth, and feel richer than you and me with 30,000-mark incomes. Besides, you’re no person to judge a man who has lived since childhood from palette to mouth. Take it upon yourself to finance him: it’s an arithmetic example! I haven’t the moral courage, and one can easily burn one’s fingers, too. LULU--[_As_ PIERROT, _steps out of the bedroom_.] Here I am! SCHÖN--[_Turns; after a pause._] Superb! LULU--[_Nearer._] Well? SCHÖN--You shame the boldest fancy. LULU--How do you like me? SCHÖN--A picture before which art must despair. DR. GOLL--Ah, you think so, too? Schön--[_To_ LULU.] Have you any notion what you’re doing? LULU--I’m perfectly aware of myself! SCHÖN--Then you might be a little more discreet. LULU--But I’m only doing what’s my duty. SCHÖN--You are powdered? LULU--What do you take me for! DR. GOLL--I’ve never seen such a white skin as she’s got. I’ve told our Raphael here, too, to do just as little with the flesh tints as possible. I can’t get up any enthusiasm for this modern daubing. SCHWARZ--[_By the easels, preparing his paints._] At any rate, it’s thanks to impressionism that present-day art can stand up beside the old masters without blushing. DR. GOLL--Oh, it may be quite the thing for a brute being led to slaughter.