"That's true," cried Austria, "what a crowd! One might think Sarah Bernhardt was going to play the Virgin Mary."
"It's ridiculous! I haven't seen such a spectacle since the Paris Exposition!" remarked St. Génois.
"It's worse than Baden-Baden at the time of the races," muttered Wengenrode, angrily. "Absurd, what brings the people here?"
"Why, we are here, too," said Hohenheim, smiling.
"Mon Dieu, it must be seen once, if people are in the neighborhood," observed Cossigny.
"Are you going directly after the performance, too?" asked Prince Emil.
"Of course, what is there to do here? No gaming--no ladies' society, and just think, the burgomaster of Ammergau will allow neither a circus nor any other ordinary performance. He was offered forty thousand marks by the proprietor of the Circus Rouannet, if he would permit him to give performances during the Passion Play! Mademoiselle Rouannet told me so herself. Do you suppose that obstinate, stiff-necked Philistine could be persuaded? No, it was not in harmony with the dignity of the Passion Play. He preferred to refuse the 40,000 marks. The Salon Klüber wanted to put up an elegant merry-go-round and offered 12,000 marks for the privilege. Heaven forbid!"
"I believe these people have the mania of ambition," said Wengenrode.
"Say rather of saintship,' corrected Prince Hohenheim.
"Aye, they all consider themselves the holy personages whom they represent. We need only look at this arrogant burgomaster, and the gentleman who personates Christ, to understand what these people imagine themselves."