The Lonely Way-Intermezzo-Countess Mizzie Part 14

REUMANN

We'll talk of those things, madam, when it's time to do so.

MRS. WEGRAT

Of course, I regret nothing. I believe I have never regretted anything.

But I have a feeling that something is out of order. Perhaps it's nothing but that strange glimmer in the eyes of Felix which has caused all this unrest within me. But isn't it peculiar--uncanny almost--to think that a man like him may go through the world with all his senses open and yet never know whom he has to thank for being in the world?

REUMANN

Don't let us indulge in generalities, Mrs. Wegrat. In that way you can set the most solid things shaking and swaying until the steadiest eyes begin to grow dizzy. My own conclusion is this: that a lie which has proved strong enough to sustain the peace of a household can be no less respectable than a truth which could do nothing but destroy the image of the past, fill the present with sorrow, and confuse the vision of the future. (_He goes out with Mrs. Wegrat_)

JOHANNA (_entering with Sala_)

In this way one always gets back to the same spot. I suppose your garden is bigger, Mr. von Sala?

SALA

My garden is the whole wide woods--that is, for people whose fancy is not restrained by a light fence.

JOHANNA

Your villa has grown very pretty.

SALA

Oh, you know it then?

JOHANNA

A little while ago I saw it again for the first time in three years.

SALA

But three years ago they hadn't put in the foundations yet.

JOHANNA

To me it was already standing there.

SALA

How mysterious....

JOHANNA

Not at all. If you will only remember. Once we made an excursion to Dornbach[3]--my parents, and Felix, and I. There we met you and Mr.

Fichtner, and it happened on the very spot where your house was to be built. And now everything looks just as you described it to us then.

[3] A suburb near the western limits of Vienna and not far from the location indicated for the Wegrat home.

SALA

But how did you happen to be in that vicinity?

JOHANNA

Since mamma was taken sick I have often had to take my walks alone....

SALA

And when was it you pa.s.sed by my house?

JOHANNA

Not long ago--to-day.

SALA

To-day?

JOHANNA

Yes. I went all around it.

SALA

Oh? All around it?--Did you also notice the little gate that leads directly into the woods?

JOHANNA

Yes.--But from that spot the house is almost invisible. The leaf.a.ge is very thick.--Where have you placed those busts of the Roman emperors?

SALA

They stand on columns at the opening of an avenue of trees. Right by is a small marble bench, and in front of the bench a little pool has been made.

JOHANNA (_nodding_)

Just as you told us that time.... And there is a greenish gray glitter on the water--and in the morning the shadow from the beech tree falls across it.... I know. (_She looks up at him and smiles; both go out together_)

CURTAIN

THE SECOND ACT