STUDENT. Is it to be a bargain? Do you want me to sell my soul?
HUMMEL. Don't sell anything!... You see, all my life I have been used to take. Now I have a craving to give—to give! But no one will accept.... I am rich, very rich, but have no heirs except a scamp who is tormenting the life out of me.... Become my son! Inherit me while I am still alive! Enjoy life, and let me look on—from a distance, at least!
STUDENT. What am I to do?
HUMMEL. Go and hear "The Valkyr" first of all.
STUDENT. That's settled—but what more?
HUMMEL. This evening you shall be in the Round Room.
STUDENT. How am I to get there?
HUMMEL. Through "The Valkyr."
STUDENT. Why have you picked me to be your instrument? Did you know me before?
HUMMEL. Of course, I did! I have had my eyes on you for a long time.... Look at the balcony now, where the Maid is raising the flag at half-mast in honour of the consul.... And then she turns the bedclothes.... Do you notice that blue quilt? It was made to cover two, and now it is only covering one.... [The YOUNG LADY appears at her window, having changed dress in the meantime; she waters the hyacinths] There is my little girl now. Look at her—look! She is talking to her flowers, and she herself looks like a blue hyacinth. She slakes their thirst—with pure water only—and they transform the water into colour and fragrance.... There comes the Colonel with the newspaper! He shows her the story about the house that fell down—and he points at your portrait! She is not indifferent—she reads of your deeds.... It's clouding up, I think.... I wonder if it's going to rain? Then I shall be in a nice fix, unless Johansson comes back soon [The sun has disappeared, and now the stage is growing darker; the white-haired old woman closes her window] Now my fiancée is closing her window.... She is seventy-nine—and the only mirror she uses is the window-mirror, because there she sees not herself, but the world around her—and she sees it from two sides—but it has not occurred to her that she can be seen by the world, too.... A handsome old lady, after all....