[All three go out.
STRÜBEL. Good heavens! Could I—? I don't believe it! Surely she sits—well, I'll make sure right away—[Goes up to the telescope and stops.] Oh, I'll go along with them, anyhow.
[Exit after them.
FRAU LINDEMANN. [Entering.] Have they all gone—all of them?
ROSA. All of them.
FRAU LINDEMANN. [Looking toward the right.] There—there—two ladies and a lackey are coming up the footpath. Mercy me! How my heart is beating!—If I had only had the sofa recovered last spring!—What am I going to say to them?—Rosa, don't you know a poem by heart which you could speak to the princess? [Rosa shrugs her shoulders.] They're coming through the court now!—Stop putting your arms under your apron that way, you stupid thing!—oh dear, oh dear——
[The door opens. A Lackey in plain black livery enters, and remains standing at the door. He precedes The Princess and Frau v. Brook. The Princess is a pale, sickly, unassuming young girl, wearing a very simple walking costume and a medium-sized leghorn hat trimmed with roses. Frau v. Brook is a handsome, stately, stern-looking woman, in the thirties. She is well-dressed, but in accordance with the simple tastes of the North German nobility.
FRAU V. BROOK. Who is the proprietor of this place?
FRAU LINDEMANN. At your command, your Highness.
FRAU V. BROOK. [Reprovingly.] I am the maid of honor. Where is the room that has been ordered?