Scene 7
Enter Bailiff Adam and Second Bailiff.
Adam (to Anthony).
Now you may go and pay your bet. People in red coats with blue facings (with emphasis) would never come, into your house! Eh? Well, here you have two of us. (To Second Bailiff.) Why don’t you keep your hat on, as I do? Who’s going to stand on ceremony, when he’s among his equals?
Anthony.
Equals, you cur?
Adam.
You’re right, we’re not among equals. Knaves and thieves are not our equals! (Pointing to the cupboard.) Open that! And then three paces back! Don’t juggle anything out of it.
Anthony.
What! What!
Clara (bringing cloth for dinner).
Should I—— (stops).
Adam (showing a paper).
Can you read writing?
Anthony.
How should I, when my schoolmaster couldn’t?
Adam.
Well, listen! Your son has been stealing jewels. We’ve got the thief already. Now we are going to search the house.
Mother.
Jesus!—(falls down; dies).
Clara.
Oh, mother, mother! Look at her eyes!
Leonard.
I’ll fetch a doctor.
Anthony.
No need.—That’s the last face. I’ve seen it hundreds of times. Good-night, Teresa. You died when you heard it. That shall be put on your gravestone.
Leonard.
Perhaps I’d better——(going). How awful! But it’s a good thing for me. (Goes out.)
Anthony (takes out his keys and throws them on the floor).
There! Open up! Drawers and cupboards! Bring me an axe! I’ve lost the key of the chest. Oho! Knaves and thieves, eh! (Pulls out his pockets.) I don’t find anything here!
Second Bailiff.
Master Anthony, compose yourself! Everybody knows you’re the honestest man in the town.
Anthony.
Is that so? (Laughing). Yes, I’ve used up all the honesty there was in the family. Poor boy! There was none left for him. She, too—(pointing to the dead body)—was far too respectable. Who knows whether my daughter——(Suddenly to Clara.) What do you think, my innocent child?
Clara.
Oh, father!
Second Bailiff (to Adam).
Have you no sympathy?
Adam.
Sympathy? Am I feeling in the old man’s pockets? Am I making him take his socks off and turn up his boots? I meant to begin with that, for I hate him, as I never hated, since that affair at the inn, when he——You know the story and you’d have been insulted too, if you’d any self-respect in you. (To Clara.) Where’s your brother’s room?
Clara (pointing).
At the back. (Bailiffs go off.) Father, he’s innocent! He must be! He’s your son, and he’s my brother!
Anthony.
Innocent, when he’s murdered his mother? (Laughs).
Girl (with letter to Clara).
From Mr. Leonard. (Goes out.)
Anthony.
You don’t need to read it. He’s deserted you. (Claps his hands.) Bravo, you rascal!
Clara (after reading).
My God, he has!
Anthony.
Never mind him.
Clara.
But, father, I must!
Anthony.
Must! Must! What do you mean? Are you——(Bailiffs return).
Adam (maliciously).
Seek and ye shall find!
Second Bailiff (to Adam).
What are you thinking about? Was it true, then?
Adam.
Hold your jaw. (Both go out.)
Anthony.
He’s innocent, and you, you——
Clara.
Oh, father, you’re awful!
Anthony (takes her by the hand, very gently).
My daughter, Karl is a bungler after all. He killed his mother, but what of that? His father’s left alive. You help him out! You can’t expect him to do it all by himself. You finish me off! The old tree looks pretty knotty yet, doesn’t it? But it’s shaking already. It won’t give you much trouble to fell it. You don’t need an axe. You’ve a pretty face. I’ve never praised you before, but let me tell you now, to give you courage and confidence. Your eyes and nose and mouth are sure to please; you turn into—you understand!—but it seems to me you’re that way already.
Clara (almost demented, flings herself with upraised arms at the dead woman’s feet, and calls out like a child).
Oh, mother, mother!
Anthony.
Take the hand of the dead and swear to me that you are as you should be.
Clara.
I—swear—that—I—will—never—bring—shame—upon—you.
Anthony.
Good. (Puts his hat on.) It’s a fine day. We’ll run the gauntlet, up street and down street. (Goes out.)