Be brave: still-born!
HOFFMANN
O my God!
[He rushes out.
HELEN alone.
She looks about her and calls softly: Alfred! Alfred! As she receives no answer, she calls out again more quickly: Alfred! Alfred! She has hurried to the door of the conservatory through which she gazes anxiously. She goes into the conservatory, but reappears shortly. Alfred! Her disquiet increases. She peers out of the window. Alfred! She opens the window and mounts a chair that stands before it. At this moment there resounds clearly from the yard the shouting of the drunken farmer, her father, who is coming home from the inn, Hay-hee! Ain' I a han'some feller? Ain' I got a fine-lookin' wife? Ain' I got a couple o' han'some gals? Hay-hee! HELEN utters a short cry and runs, like a hunted creature, toward the middle door. From there she discovers the letter which LOTH has left lying on thee table. She runs to it, tears it open, feverishly takes in the contents, of which she audibly utters separate words. "Insuperable!" … "Never again." … She lets the letter fall and sways. It's over! She steadies herself, holds her head with both hands and cries out in brief and piercing despair. It's over! She rushes out through the—middle door. The farmer's voice without, drawing nearer. Hay-hee! Ain' the farm mine? Ain' I got a han'some wife? Ain' I a han'some feller? HELEN, still seeking LOTH half-madly, comes from the conservatory and meets EDWARD, who has come to fetch something from HOFFMANN'S room. She addresses him: Edward! He answers: Yes, Miss Krause. She continues: I'd like to … like to … Dr. Loth … EDWARD answers: Dr. Loth drove away in Dr. Schimmelpfennig's carriage. He disappears into HOFFMANN'S room. True! HELEN cries out and holds herself erect with difficulty. In the next moment a desperate energy takes hold of her. She runs to the foreground and seizes the hunting knife with its belt which is fastened to the stag's antlers above the sofa. She hides the weapon and stays quietly in the dark foreground until EDWARD, coming from HOFFMANN'S room, has disappeared through the middle door. The farmer's voice resounds more clearly from moment to moment. Hay-hee! Ain' I a han'some feller? At this sound, as at a signal, HELEN starts and runs, in her turn, into HOFFMANN'S room. The main room is empty but one continues to hear the farmer's voice: Ain' I got the finest teeth? Ain' I got a fine farm? MIELE comes through the middle door and looks searchingly about. She calls: Miss Helen! Miss Helen! Meanwhile the farmer's voice: The money 'sh mi-ine! Without further hesitation MIELE has disappeared into HOFFMANN'S room, the door of which she leaves open. In the next moment she rushes out with every sign of insane terror. Screaming she spins around twice—thrice—screaming she flies through the middle door. Her uninterrupted screaming, softening as it recedes, is audible for several seconds. Last there is heard the opening and resonant slamming of the heavy house door, the tread of the farmer stumbling about in the hall, and his coarse, nasal, thick-tongued drunkard's voice echoes through the room: Hay-hee! Ain' I got a couple o' han'some gals?