Rauchhaupt, I had worse things 'n that. Yes. I lost a boy—an' he was the best thing I had in this world. Well, you see? You c'n go an' stare at me now! My life—it ain't been no joke neither.—Go right on starin' at me! Maybe you'll lose your taste for this kind o' thing the way you did onct before.
RAUCHHAUPT
Mrs. Fielitz, I'm a peaceable man, but that there … I'm peaceable,
Missis. I never liked bein' a constable, but …
MRS. FIELITZ
Well, then! Everybody knows that! On that very account! An' now there ain't nobody as bad as you! You're actin' like a reg'lar bloodhound! Why? You've always been as good as gold, Rauchhaupt! Every child in the place knows that! An' now, what's all this about?—You c'n go an' open one o' them there bottles. Why shouldn't we go an' drink a bit o' a drop together? [RAUCHHAUPT wipes his eyes and then walks across to draw the cork of one of the bottles.]—Fightin' c'n begin again afterwards. I s'ppose life ain't no different from that.—An' we can't change it. There ain't nothin' but foolishness around. An' when you want to go an' open people's eyes—you can't do it! Foolishness—that's what rules this world.—What are we: you an' me an' all of us? We has had to go worryin' and workin' all our lives—every one of us has! Well, then! We ought to know how things reely is! If you don't join the scramble—you're lazy: if you do—you're bad.—An' everythin' we does get, we gets out o' the dirt. People like us has to turn their hands to anythin'! An' they, they tells you: be good, be good! How? What chanct has we got? But no, we don't even live in peace with each other.—I wanted to get on—that's true. An' ain't it natural? We all wants to get out o' this here mud in which we all fights an' scratches around … Out o' it … away from it … higher up, if you wants to call it that … Is it true as you're wantin' to move away from here, Rauchhaupt?
RAUCHHAUPT
Yes, Mrs. Fielitz, I been havin' that in my mind. An' why? Dr. Boxer an' me, we knows why. [He groans sorrowfully.] It ain't only on account o' my wantin' to be nearer to Gustav. No, no! I don't feel well in this here neighbourhood no more. Everybody looks at me kind o' queer nowadays.
[The bottle has now been uncorked and RAUCHHAUPT fills two glasses.
MRS. FIELITZ
That's another thing. Why does we care what people think?