SCHÖN--[_Turning over the leaves in one of the books on the table._] It had to come out--I must have my hands free at last! SCHWARZ--[_Coming back._] Is that any way to jest? SCHÖN--[_Pointing to a chair._] Please. SCHWARZ--What is it? SCHÖN--Please. SCHWARZ--[_Seating himself._] Well? SCHÖN--[_Seating himself._] You have married half a million.... SCHWARZ--Is it gone? SCHÖN--Not a penny. SCHWARZ--Explain to me the peculiar scene.... SCHÖN--You have married half a million---- SCHWARZ--No one can make a crime of that. SCHÖN--You have created a name for yourself. You can work unmolested. You need to deny yourself no wish---- SCHWARZ--What have you two got against me? SCHÖN--For six months you’ve been revelling in all the heavens. You have a wife whom the world envies you, and she deserves a man whom she can respect---- SCHWARZ--Doesn’t she respect me? SCHÖN--No. SCHWARZ--[_Depressed._] I come from the dark depths of society. She is above me. I cherish no more ardent wish than to become her equal. [_Offers_ SCHÖN _his hand_.] Thank you. SCHÖN--[_Pressing it, half embarrassed._] Don’t mention it. SCHWARZ--[_With determination._] Speak! SCHÖN--Keep a little more watch on her. SCHWARZ--I--on her? SCHÖN--We are not children! We don’t trifle! We live!--She demands that she be taken seriously. Her value gives her a perfect right to be. SCHWARZ--What does she do, then? SCHÖN--You have married half a million! SCHWARZ--[_Rises; beside himself._] She----? SCHÖN--[_Takes him by the shoulder._] No, that’s not the way! [_Forces him to sit._] We have a very grave matter here to discuss. SCHWARZ--What does she do? SCHÖN--First count over on your fingers all you have to thank her for, and then---- SCHWARZ--What does she do--man! SCHÖN--And then make yourself responsible for your failings,--no one else. SCHWARZ--With whom? With whom? SCHÖN--If we should shoot each other---- SCHWARZ--Since when, then? SCHÖN--[_Evasive._] --I have not come here to make a scandal, but to rescue you =from= scandal. SCHWARZ--[_Shaking his head._] You have misunderstood her. SCHÖN--[_Embarrassed._] That gets us nowhere. I can’t see you go on living in blindness. The girl deserves to be a respectable woman. Since I have known her she has improved as she developed. SCHWARZ--Since you have known her? Since when have you known her then? SCHÖN--Since about her twelfth year. SCHWARZ--[_Bewildered._] She never told me that. SCHÖN--She used to sell flowers in front of the Alhambra Café. Every evening between twelve and two she would press in among the guests, bare-footed. SCHWARZ--She told me nothing of that. SCHÖN--She did right there. I’m telling you, so you may see that hers is not a case of moral degeneracy. The girl is, on the contrary, of extraordinarily good disposition. SCHWARZ--She said she had grown up with an aunt.