SCHÖN--[_Encouragingly._] Let her feel your authority! Only make her render you unconditional obedience, and she asks no more. With Dr. Goll she was in heaven, and there was no joking him. SCHWARZ--[_Shaking his head._] She said she had never loved---- SCHÖN--But start with yourself. Pull yourself together! SCHWARZ--She has sworn---- SCHÖN--You can’t expect a sense of duty in her before you know your own task. SCHWARZ--By her mother’s grave! SCHÖN--She never knew her mother, let alone the grave. Her mother hasn’t got a grave. SCHWARZ--I don’t fit in society. [_He is in desperation._] SCHÖN--What’s the matter? SCHWARZ--Pain--horrible pain! SCHÖN--[_Gets up, steps back; after a pause._] Guard her for yourself, because she’s yours.--The moment is decisive. To-morrow she may be lost to you. SCHWARZ--[_Pointing to his breast._] Here, here. SCHÖN--You have married half----[_Reflecting._] She is lost to you if you let this moment slip! SCHWARZ--If I could weep! Oh, if I could cry out! SCHÖN--[_With a hand on his shoulder._] You’re suffering---- SCHWARZ--[_Getting up, apparently quiet._] You are right, quite right. SCHÖN--[_Gripping his hand._] Where are you going? SCHWARZ--To speak with her. SCHÖN--Right! [_Accompanies him to the door, left. Coming back._] That was tough work. [_After a pause, looking right._] He had taken her into the studio before, tho...? [_A fearful groan, left. He hurries to the door and finds it locked._] Open! Open the door! LULU--[_Stepping thru the hangings, right._] What’s---- SCHÖN--Open it! LULU--[_Comes down the steps._] That is horrible. SCHÖN--Have you an ax in the kitchen? LULU--He’ll open it right off---- SCHÖN--I can’t kick it in. LULU--When he’s had his cry out. SCHÖN--[_Kicking the door._] Open! [_To_ LULU.] Bring me an ax. LULU--Send for the doctor---- SCHÖN--You are not yourself. LULU--It serves you right. [_Bell rings in the corridor._ SCHÖN _and_ LULU _stare at each other. Then_ SCHÖN _slips up-stage and stands in the doorway_.] SCHÖN--I mustn’t let myself be seen here now. LULU--Perhaps it’s the art-dealer. [_The bell rings again._] SCHÖN--But if we don’t answer it---- [LULU _steals toward the door; but_ SCHÖN _holds her_.] Stop. It sometimes happens that one is not just at hand--[_He goes out on tiptoe._ LULU _turns back to the locked door and listens_. SCHÖN _returns with_ ALVA.] Please be quiet. ALVA--[_Very excited._] A revolution has broken out in Paris! SCHÖN--Be quiet. ALVA--[_To_ LULU.] You’re as pale as death. SCHÖN--[_Rattling at the door._] Walter! Walter! [_A death-rattle is heard behind the door._] LULU--God pity you. SCHÖN--Haven’t you brought an ax? LULU--If there’s one there---- [_Goes slowly out, upper left._] ALVA--He’s just keeping us in suspense. SCHÖN--A revolution has broken out in Paris? ALVA--Up in the office the editors are tearing their hair. Not one of them knows what to write about it. [_The bell rings in the corridor._]