Magda: A Play in Four Acts

by Hermann Sudermann

Marie!

MARIE.

Yes, papa.

[Exit Schwartze, Mrs. Schwartze, Franziska, and Marie.

MAGDA.

[Sits down and examines him through her lorgnette.] So this is the man who undertakes by a five minutes' interview entirely and absolutely to break my will. That they believe in your ability to do it shows me that you are a king in your own dominions. I make obeisance. And now let me see you ply your arts.

HEFFTERDINGT.

I understand no arts, madam, and would avail myself of none. If they put some trust in me here, it is because they know that I seek nothing for myself.

MAGDA.

[Ironically.] That has always been the case?