Conservatory and garden of the Hofreiter villa.
Late afternoon, after the rain.
Genia Hofreiter, dressed simply and respectably, stands listening to a Chopin record on the gramophone.
Kathi, the maid, comes in with a tray to clear away the tea things, but hesitates.
Kathi Shall I clear away, madam? Herr Hofreiter will no doubt have taken tea in town.
Genia nods, barely paying attention.
Shall I bring something to put round you, ma’am? It’s turned quite chilly.
Genia Mm …
Genia notes the approach, beyond the fence and mostly hidden by it, of a funereal parasol and two elegant but equally funereal head-dresses.
… my white shawl.
Kathi completes her business and leaves with the tea things on her tray. Mrs Wahl and Erna approach. Genia waves her hand gracefully and moves to greet them. Mrs Wahl, slim and lively, about forty-five, has an air of self-conscious dignity. She speaks through her nose in an aristocratic manner which is not quite convincing. In expression and speech she is languid and vivacious by turns. Erna, taller than her mother, slim; outspoken without being offensive; a cool, self-possessed expression. Genia greets them, shaking hands.
Do come in. Safely back from town?
Mrs Wahl As you see, my dear Genia. The weather was frightful.
Genia It rained out here, too, until an hour ago.
Mrs Wahl You did quite right to stay at home. We nearly went under at the cemetery. It was only Erna made me go. In my opinion, the church service would have been quite sufficient. What good does it do anyone, after all?
Erna Mama is quite right there – we certainly didn’t bring poor Korsakow back to life.
Genia Many there?
Mrs Wahl Tout le monde. The Natters rolled up in their new scarlet motor.
Genia (smiling) It’s seen all over the place, I hear.
Mrs Wahl Well, it certainly made a lively impression at the cemetery …
Kathi comes out of the house with a white shawl, which she puts around Genia.
Kathi Good evening, madam. Good evening, miss.
Erna Good evening.
Mrs Wahl (friendly) Bless you, Kathi, dear …
Kathi exits.
Genia Did you speak to Friedrich out there?
Mrs Wahl Only in passing.
Erna He was quite upset.
Genia I’m not surprised.
Erna I was, as a matter of fact. He doesn’t normally let things affect him so easily.
Genia (smiling) How well you seem to know him.
Erna Well, why not? (very simply) I’ve loved him since I was seven years old. I loved him before you did, Frau Genia.
Genia (chiding her affectionately) Oh … Frau Genia, am I?
Erna (almost tenderly) Genia. (She kisses Genia’s hand.)
Genia Friedrich was very fond of Alexei Korsakow, you know.
Erna Obviously. And there was I thinking that Korsakow was just … his pianist.
Genia How do you mean, ‘his pianist’?
Erna Well, just as Dr Mauer is his best friend, Mr Natter is his banker, I’m his doubles partner, and Captain Stanzides is his … his second …
Genia Oh …
Erna In theory, I mean … So I thought Korsakow was Friedrich’s pianist. Friedrich takes from each according to his needs, you see …
Mrs Wahl Do you know, my dear Genia, what my late husband used to say about those remarks? – ‘There goes Erna, pirouetting along the psychological tightrope.’
Erna Lieutenant!
Otto von Aigner arrives at the edge of the garden.
Otto (as he arrives) Good evening.
Genia Good evening, Lieutenant von Aigner. Won’t you come in for a moment?
Otto With your permission, ma’am. (He enters the garden. He is a young man of twenty-five, modest and charming. He is wearing the uniform of a naval lieutenant.)
Genia How is your mama? We haven’t seen her today.
Otto Didn’t she come yesterday, ma’am?
Genia Yes, she did. And the day before, too. (smiling) You see she’s been spoiling me.
Otto My mother has gone into town. She has a performance tonight. (to Mrs Wahl and Erna) I believe you ladies were also in town today …?
Mrs Wahl We went to Korsakow’s funeral.
Otto Of course … Does anybody have any idea why he killed himself?
Erna No.
Mrs Wahl Somebody at the funeral said they thought it was an artistic tantrum.
Genia What …?
Mrs Wahl Yes. Because he was forever being told he could only play Chopin and Schumann, but not Beethoven or Bach … I must say I thought so too …
Otto Seems a bit extreme. Didn’t he leave a note?
Erna Korsakow wouldn’t be seen dead with a suicide note.
Mrs Wahl There she goes …
Erna He was far too intelligent and he had too much taste. He understood what it means to be dead, and so cared nothing for what people made of it next morning.
Otto I read in the papers that on the evening before he killed himself he was dining with friends … and was in excellent spirits …
Mrs Wahl The papers invariably say that.
Genia This time it happens to be true – my husband was one of the friends he dined with.
Mrs Wahl Ah …
Genia (casually) When Friedrich has to work late in town he always dines at the Imperial Hotel. Korsakow was staying there. After dinner they went to the café and played billiards.
Mrs Wahl Just your husband and Korsakow?
Genia Yes. They even had a bet on – a box of cigars – and Friedrich lost. Next morning he sent Josef, his manservant, round from the flat with the cigars … and – didn’t you know? – it was Josef who made the discovery.
Mrs Wahl What happened?
Genia Well, he knocked a few times – no reply; so finally he opened the door, and …
Erna There lay Korsakow, dead …
Genia Yes, with the revolver still in his hand …
Pause.
Mrs Wahl Awful moment for the manservant. What did he do with the cigars? Did he leave them?
Erna Mama believes in historical precision.
The sound of a car approaching.
Mrs Wahl It’s stopping here.
Genia That’s Friedrich’s car.
Erna Good – we can arrange a game of tennis straight away. Is the court set up?
Otto Oh yes – Mr Hofreiter and I played singles for two hours yesterday.
Mrs Wahl You mean he was in the mood for tennis?
Erna Why shouldn’t he be in the mood, Mama? When it’s my turn to go, people can knock up against my gravestone if they like.
Dr Mauer arrives. He is thirty-five, with a blond full beard, pince-nez, sabre scar on his forehead; plainly, though not carelessly, dressed in a dark lounge suit.
Mauer Good evening, dear friends.
Genia Oh, it’s you, Doctor …
Mauer (taking her hand, kissing it) Greetings, dear lady. (to Mrs Wahl) Good evening. Mrs Wahl. (and to Erna) Ah … Miss Erna. Good evening, Lieutenant. (to Genia) Friedrich presents his compliments, Frau Genia, but he’s held up at the factory. He was kind enough to lend me his car to visit a couple of patients I’ve got out here. He’s coming on by train.
Mrs Wahl Alas, we must go. (to Mauer) I hope we’ll soon see you chez nous, Doctor. Although, thank God, we enjoy perfect health.
Erna You must come soon though, Doctor. We’re off to the mountains in two weeks or so, to Lake Vols.
Mauer Ah!
Mrs Wahl We’re going to rendezvous with Gustl … (to Otto) That’s my wanderlust Wunderkind … He’s been everywhere … India, last year.
Erna And I’m keen to go climbing again.
Mauer Then there’s a chance we’ll meet up on some mountain peak. The fact is I’m also being drawn to the Dolomites. (to Genia) And this year, dear Genia, I very much want to borrow Friedrich for the occasion.
Mrs Wahl I thought Friedrich had given up climbing since the accident …
Mauer Not for ever, surely.
Mrs Wahl (explaining to Otto) Seven years ago a friend of Friedrich’s, his name was Doctor Bernhaupt, crashed right past him on a rock-face …
Erna … and lay dead where he fell.
Otto (to Genia) So it was your husband who was on that climb?
Erna (thoughtfully) It has to be said, he doesn’t have much luck with his friends.
Genia (to Otto) You’ve heard about it, Mr von Aigner?
Otto Well, naturally … it happened on the Aignerturm … which my father was the first to climb more than twenty years ago.
Genia That’s right, it was the Aignerturm.
Mauer The Aignerturm … One quite forgets that it was named after a man who’s still alive.
Short pause.
Erna Well, Lieutenant, it must be an extraordinary feeling to know that there is a mountain in the Dolomites to which you are, in a sense, related.
Otto Not really, Fraulein. Both the mountain and my father are more or less strangers to me. I was a boy of four or five when my parents separated … and I haven’t seen him since.
Pause.
Erna (encouraging her to leave) Well, Mama …
Mrs Wahl Yes, indeed! If we’re ever going to get unpacked … (to Mauer) We only moved out of town on Sunday. We haven’t yet sat down to a proper meal … We have to eat in this awful park. Well, see you before long, Genia … (to Otto) Will you come with us part of the way?
Otto If I may accompany you as far as the tennis courts … Goodbye, ma’am, please give my respects to your husband.
Erna Goodbye, Genia. Auf Wiedersehen, Doctor.
They take their leave. Genia and Mauer remain.
Mauer (after a short pause, looking after Erna) Looking at the daughter, one could almost forgive the mother.
Genia A son-in-law could do a lot worse than Mrs Wahl … I should think it over, Doctor.
Mauer (half joking) I don’t believe I cut enough of a dash for Erna.
Genia By the way, I had no idea that Friedrich was going to have to work late.
Mauer Yes, I was meant to tell you, he had to wait for an important telegram, from America.
Genia Yes?
Mauer Yes. Really. About that business of a patent for his latest invention, the incandescent light.
Genia (drily) That was Edison. (She sits down.)
Mauer Well, his improvement then. Anyway, as always, business seems to be booming. He’s got a meeting with his banker first thing tomorrow.
Genia (slightly wary) With Mr Natter?
Mauer Natter is his banker.
Genia They were at the funeral too, I hear, the Natters.
Mauer Yes.
Genia The scarlet motor car made an impression.
Mauer (shrugs) So it’s scarlet.
Short pause. Genia watches Mauer with a faint smile.
By the way – your husband’s affair with Mrs Natter is over.
Genia (still calm) Oh really?
Mauer Absolutely.
Genia That’s good. Did Friedrich tell you?
Mauer No, he wouldn’t. But my diagnoses rarely call for a second opinion. In all honesty, there was never any cause to take it too seriously. Adele is very flighty.
Genia Oh yes, she’s harmless. I’m not worried by her at all. But I think Mr Natter, for all his apparent friendliness, is a brutal man. Spiteful, too, in some ways. And sometimes I’ve been afraid for Friedrich; like a mother being worried about a son – a rather overgrown son – who’s got himself into some scrape. You can understand what I mean?
Mauer (sitting opposite her) Yes, of course – the mark of a good wife, mothering her husband.
Genia I haven’t always felt so. More than once I thought of leaving him.
Mauer Oh!
Genia Once I even thought of killing myself. Mind you, that was a long time ago. And perhaps it only seems like that to me now …
Mauer Quite so. You would never have done it … you wouldn’t have wished to cause him the inconvenience.
Genia Do you think I’m so considerate? You’re quite wrong … There was even a time when I thought of inconveniencing Friedrich as only a wife can, especially a wife with a possessive husband. I wanted revenge.
Mauer Revenge?
Genia Well, let’s say I wanted to get even.
Mauer That would have been the rational thing to do. Well, never mind … The fateful moment may still be waiting for you, Frau Genia.
Genia I don’t necessarily have to wait for it.
Mauer (seriously) But you will – alas. My sense of justice has long been affronted by my old friend Friedrich getting off scot-free.
Genia Oh, Friedrich pays. Not in the same coin, but he pays all right. Sometimes I even feel sorry for him. Sometimes, Doctor, I really think there’s a demon driving him.
Mauer A demon? Well, well! Even so, there are women we know who would tell their husbands to go to hell and take their demon with them.
Genia looks at him inquiringly.
I was thinking of our local celebrity, Otto’s mother.
Genia Mrs von Aigner?
Mauer Yes, her husband was a bit of a devil with the ladies, and she wasn’t as resilient as you. Perhaps after all those years in the theatre, real life took her by surprise.
Genia Perhaps she loved her husband more than I love Friedrich. Perhaps the highest form of love leaves no room for forgiveness.
Friedrich Hofreiter enters. He is slim, with a thin, distinguished face, a dark moustache clipped in the ‘English’ style, blond hair, with the parting on the right and a touch of grey. He wears pince-nez without a cord, and sometimes removes them. Tends to stoop a little. Small eyes, a little pinched. He speaks in a gentle, almost caressing way, which can change to biting sarcasm. His movements are graceful but suggest energy. He dresses elegantly but not foppishly: dark lounge suit, a black coat (not buttoned up) with wide satin lapels, a round black hat, a slim umbrella with a simple handle.
Friedrich (at the door) Good evening. (coming in) Hello, Mauer.
Mauer (stands up) Hello there, Friedrich.
Friedrich (kisses Genia lightly on the forehead) Good evening, Genia. How are you? Do you want to come to America?
Genia No. Do you want some tea?
Friedrich No … I had tea at the office. Pretty awful it was, too. Didn’t Mauer tell you I was at the office?
Genia Yes … Did you get your telegram?
Friedrich I did … There are sailings to New York on August the 29th from Liverpool and on September the 2nd from Hamburg. North German Lloyd. The captain of the King James is a friend of mine.
Genia I expect we’ll have another chance to talk about it before then.
Friedrich I hope to have that pleasure. I say, what a downpour that was. Did you have it out here? The cemetery was awash. But that was partly the speeches. An inch of slush fell in half an hour. You were well out of it … (Pause.) Well, Mauer, did the motor behave itself? How fast did you drive? Ten miles an hour, what? Safety first, that’s you.
Mauer Pull my leg if you like. I’ve had three cases of injury from car accidents in the last week.
Friedrich Oh yes – how is Stanzides?
Mauer I’m just going to see him, as a matter of fact. He’s very impatient, considering he ought to be grateful he didn’t break his neck.
Friedrich Not to mention mine. I was thrown thirty feet up the road. But it’s certainly true that the insurance companies will soon be turning down anyone who is acquainted with me.
Mauer Yes, as Erna Wahl was saying, you’re not very lucky with your friends.
Friedrich So Erna’s been here?
Genia Yes, with her mother. They have just gone off with Otto.
Friedrich Otto too? (to Mauer) What did you think of him?
Mauer (slightly surprised by the question) A nice enough fellow.
Friedrich Remarkable how like his father he is.
Mauer Is he? … Dr von Aigner was never my type, as a matter of fact. Had too many affectations.
Friedrich What he had was style. They’re often confused. It’s a long time, too, since I saw him. Do you remember, Genia?
Genia Oh yes. (to Mauer) I liked him very much.
Friedrich Yes, he was in fine fettle then. That’s more than I was. (to Mauer) It was just a few days after the Bernhaupt thing. Yes, and Aigner had just come back from an election campaign. They say he’s got at least one child in every village in the Tyrol. And not just in his own constituency either.
Mauer All right then, let’s call it style. But I really must be going now. Stanzides will be expecting me.
Friedrich You will come back here for supper afterwards?
Mauer I don’t know.
Friedrich Of course you will.
Mauer (hesitatingly) Thank you. But I must catch the 10.20 back to town. I have to be early at the hospital.
Friedrich Are you superstitious, Mauer?
Mauer Why?
Friedrich I thought perhaps you didn’t want to spend the night in our guest room since poor Korsakow slept there a week ago. But I don’t think the dead are allowed out round their old haunts on their very first night.
Mauer How can you talk like that?
Friedrich (suddenly serious) You’re right, it’s really awful. A week ago he slept up there, and the evening before that he played the piano in there … Chopin – the Nocturne in C sharp minor – and something by Schumann … and we sat on the veranda there, Otto was here too, and the Natters … who would have dreamed …! If only one had an idea why … Genia – didn’t he say anything to you either?
Genia Me?
Mauer (helping out) Well, artists are all more or less unhinged, aren’t they? For one thing, the way they take themselves so seriously. Ambition is a disturbance of the balance of the mind. All that banking on immortality …!
Friedrich What are you talking about! You didn’t even know him. None of you knew him. Ambitious … Korsakow? No, he’d got that handsome head screwed on all right. Bashing the ivories was just something to do. Do you know what he was really interested in? He had Kant and Schopenhauer and Nietzsche at his fingertips, and Marx and Proudhon … He was amazing. And twenty-seven years old!! And kills himself. Dear God, a fellow like that, with so much before him! Young and famous, and with that profile, too … and he shoots himself. If it was some old ass, for whom life had nothing more to offer … And the evening before, there we were sitting down to supper with a man like that … playing billiards with him … What is it, Genia? What is there to laugh at?
Genia Mrs Wahl wanted to know what became of the cigars.
Friedrich Ha! … She’s really priceless. (Takes a box of cigars from his pocket, offers them to Mauer.) Josef brought them back to me, of course. Go on, have one. Korsakow has given them up.
Mauer Thank you. One shouldn’t really, just before supper.
He takes one. Friedrich lights it for him. Kathi enters with letters. Genia takes them from her.
Genia Postcard from Joey.
Friedrich ‘Dear Mother’. For you, just a postcard, once again. Lazy devil.
Mauer Well, I’ll be off. I’ll be back in half an hour. By the way, this cigar is just about ready to join Korsakow, and that’s no superstition. Don’t get up. (He leaves.)
Friedrich Yes, it was just as well that you didn’t go, Genia. Between the drizzle and the drivel … (He flicks through the letters and the newspapers.) … oh yes, as the coffin disappeared the sun suddenly came out. (Pause.) Isn’t it Thursday today? He was going to have supper with us today. Here, let’s have a look at Joey’s card.
Genia (passes it to him) He’ll be here in four weeks.
Friedrich (reading it) Yes. Hm … top in Greek. Well, not too bad. Perhaps he’ll be a philologist, or an archaeologist. By the way, did you see the article in yesterday’s London Times about the latest excavations in Crete?
Genia No.
Friedrich Very interesting.
Genia Why? Did they dig up a light bulb? (Pause.)
What was that about America – were you serious?
Friedrich Of course. Well, wouldn’t you like to, Genia?
Genia slowly shakes her head.
Genia But I was thinking, while you’re over there, I thought I’d go to England – stay with Joey.
Friedrich Where did this notion suddenly come from?
Genia It’s not so sudden. And since you seem determined to let him stay over there for years to come …
Friedrich Well, you can see how famously he’s getting on. It would be damned selfish to interrupt all that fagging and cricket and bring him back here where they educate you in every kind of sentimental brutality.
Genia If it wasn’t for missing him so …
Friedrich Yes, of course … I suppose you think I don’t yearn for him? But in my opinion, yearning is a necessary part of the soul’s economy. Relationships are all the better for it. In an ideal world more and more people would see less and less of each other. Anyway we can go back with Joey to England, and you can decide then if you want to come with me or stay with the boy through the winter.
Genia I’d rather you took it as final.
Friedrich Final? Look, what’s the matter with you, Genia? You’re behaving very oddly.
Genia What’s so odd about it? Soon he won’t be mine any more. It’s not enough – two months in the summer, a week at Christmas and Easter – I’ve borne it long enough – I can’t go on any longer!
Genia moves into the garden. Friedrich looks after her. Genia walks along the lawn, moving upstage. Friedrich follows her. He pauses by a rose bush. He smells a flower.
Friedrich The roses have no scent at all this year. I don’t know why it is. Every year they look more gorgeous, but they’ve stopped bothering. Genia …
Genia What?
Friedrich No, I’ll wait till you get here. Tell me something. (looking her in the eye, quite calmly) I was wondering whether perhaps you knew why Korsakow shot himself …?
Genia (calmly) You know I was just as surprised as you were.
Friedrich That’s the impression one got, of course. Well, tell me why you want to leave me … at a moment’s notice.
Genia I don’t want to leave you. I want to visit Joey. And not at a moment’s notice, but in the autumn. To be with Joey.
Friedrich Yes, otherwise it would almost look as if you were running away.
Genia I’m under no such necessity – we could hardly be further apart than we are.
Friedrich Look, Genia! He’s dead and buried – Herr Alexei Korsakow.
Genia Then I suggest you stop digging him up!
Friedrich Don’t get excited, my love, calm at all costs … I’m only trying to say that it can’t make the slightest difference to him now if you … not that anything would happen to him if he were still alive, of course … no more than to you … Don’t misunderstand me, Genia. Nothing much need have happened between you. It could have been just a flirtation. Yes. Because if there had been anything more to it – why shoot himself? Unless (seizing on it) there was more to it – and you … ended it. (He has been speaking quite quietly but now takes her arm.)
Genia (almost amused) A jealous scene? Really! … You ought to take something for your nerves, Friedrich, I don’t know … but I can’t help it if Adele Natter is finished with you and you haven’t yet found a replacement.
Friedrich Ah, you are very well informed. Well, I won’t inquire as to the source of that knowledge. Besides, it’s not my fault that you never asked me straight out – I wouldn’t have told you you ought to take something for your nerves. That isn’t like you at all. I really don’t understand you. It’s as though you didn’t trust me, Genia. But I promise you, Genia – don’t think I’m being devious – I would understand completely. You can’t imagine how unimportant certain things become when you have just left a cemetery. So come – tell me. You can lie if you want, but answer you must. If it’s true I’ll find out anyway. Well … yes or no?
Genia He was not my lover. Unfortunately, he was not my lover. Does that satisfy you?
Friedrich Perfectly! So you were lovers. Well, if you say ‘unfortunately’, ergo you loved him and because you loved him, naturally you … What was there to stop you? And when you – put an end to it, he killed himself. And I can tell you why you put an end to it, too. Firstly because these things have to come to an end anyway. Especially in the case of a younger man – who is usually away on some concert tour. And then Joey’s coming back soon, and when he does you’d like to feel – how shall I put it? – unsullied … Well … all very respectable. All very clear so far. Except for this idea about a trip to England. No, come to that, that makes sense too.
Genia Friedrich! Read that. (She takes a letter from her belt.)
Friedrich What do you want me to…?
Genia Read it.
Friedrich What is it … a letter? A letter from him? Ah, keep it. I don’t want it.
Genia I said read it!
Friedrich Anyway, why should I have to? You can tell me what’s in it. It could well be in Russian … and tiny handwriting. One could do irreparable damage to one’s eyesight.
Genia Read it.
Friedrich turns the wall light on, sits under it, puts on his pince-nez and begins to read.
Friedrich (reading) ‘Farewell, Genia.’ (Looks up at her, in astonishment.) When did you get the letter, then?
Genia An hour before you brought the news of his death.
Friedrich So when I came home, you already knew …? I’m just … Well, at the risk of your thinking me a complete idiot, I didn’t notice a thing, not a thing … (Reads to himself for a while, then looks at her in surprise again, then reads half to himself.) ‘Perhaps it was as well you rejected my presumptuous advances. Neither of us was made for deceit … I was, perhaps, but not you … in spite of everything …’ In spite of everything … You must have complained about me a good deal. (reading) ‘Now I do understand why, in spite of everything, you don’t want to leave Him …’ With a capital H, very flattering. ‘You love him, Genia, you still love your husband, the mystery is resolved. And perhaps what I refer to by that stupid word …’ I can’t read this bit at all …
Genia ‘That stupid word faithfulness …’
Friedrich Thank you … ‘is nothing more than the hope that he will one day come back to you.’
Genia That’s his interpretation. You know I hope for nothing – and want nothing.
Friedrich (looks at her. Then – ) ‘When I spoke to you yesterday I had already made up my mind …’ Yesterday? … Was he here on Sunday then? Yes, that’s right, you were walking up and down the path together, back there … yes … (reading) ‘When I spoke to you yesterday I had already made up my mind that everything would depend on your yes or no. I have told you nothing about it because I was afraid that if you had suspected that I just couldn’t go on living without you …’ He writes in considerable detail, does Herr Alexei Ivanovitsch … Would you have said yes if you had known it was a matter of life or death?
Genia If I had known …? Could one ever …?
Friedrich Well, let me put it another way … though it’s six of one and …
Paul Kreindl, elegant, young, dreadfully smart, appears at the gate, interrupting Friedrich.
Paul Good evening!
Friedrich Whom have we here?
Paul My compliments, ma’am.
Friedrich … Ah, Paul, it’s you. (He comes down from the veranda.)
Paul Forgive me. (He approaches Friedrich.) Don’t let me disturb you. The thing is, I’ve come as an ambassador from the park – from Mrs Wahl and Miss Erna and Lieutenant von Aigner and Captain Stanzides …
Friedrich He’s abroad already?
Paul Would the present company care to come to the concert?
Genia I’m afraid we have a guest for supper – Dr Mauer.
Paul Well, do bring him along too, ma’am!
Friedrich All right then – perhaps we’ll come on later … but no promises.
Genia Thank you all the same.
Paul Oh, not at all. We would all be delighted. I take my leave, ma’am. Adieu, Mr Hofreiter. A thousand pardons for disturbing you.
He exits. Pause.
Friedrich … and half a dozen of the other, but I’ll put it another way. I mean, suppose you could bring him back to life by telling him you were prepared … to be his mistress.
Genia I don’t know.
Friedrich You can’t have been that far from it … Come on, you did love him …
Genia But not enough, as you see.
Friedrich You say that as if it was my fault.
Friedrich But you do reproach yourself that you … drove him to kill himself.
Genia I’m sorry he’s dead. But what should I reproach myself for? – my faithfulness?
Pause.
Friedrich Here’s your letter, Genia.
Genia takes the letter as Mauer arrives.
Mauer Here we are again … I hope I haven’t kept you from supper?
Genia I’ll go and see how it’s getting on …
Friedrich Look, I’ve got an idea … Let’s go to the park right away. I’m damned if I’m not in the mood for music and company. It’s all the same to you, Mauer, isn’t it?
Mauer Me? What about your wife?
Genia (reluctantly) I’d have to change …
Friedrich Hurry up and change then, we’ll be waiting for you in the garden. (to Mauer) What do you say? (nervily) All right then, let’s stay at home then, fine … that’s an end of it.
Genia I’ll be right back … I’ll just put my hat on.
She exits. Pause.
Mauer I really don’t understand you …
Friedrich Oh, nothing wrong with the park, you can get a good meal there. (Pause.) By the way – it’s probably just as well that you’re not stopping the night. The chances of a ghostly apparition in this house have considerably increased.
Friedrich Actually, you don’t deserve my confidence, you blurt out everything you know, even things I never told you …
Mauer What do you mean?
Friedrich Well, how did Genia find out that I’ve finished my affair with Adele Natter?
Mauer You ought to be thankful that for once it is possible to say something to your credit … What was that about a ghost?
Friedrich What …? Oh, that – Well, why do you think Korsakow killed himself? Go on, have a guess! – Because of a hopeless love – for my wife. Yes. A hopeless love! Now we know there is such a thing … He left a letter for her. She made me read it … quite a remarkable letter … not at all badly written … for a Russian.
Genia comes in with her hat on. The music from the park can be heard.
Genia Here I am. Well, dear Doctor, let me tell you that it’s only for your sake that I’ve abandoned our nice supper. Erna is in the park.
Friedrich Ah? Erna! (to Mauer) Yes, that would be quite a match. Well, dear chap, gird yourself. I wouldn’t let anybody have her.
They all leave the garden.