Contemporary One-Act Plays Part 88

BETTY. [_Faintly._] They will not burn me for a witch?

CHARLES. [_Savagely._] Aye, let them try it an they will.

COTTON. [_Hotly._] Aye--let them! [_Then starting suddenly with a new thought._] But how cam'st thou here? Yea, verily, it seemeth to me thou did'st materialize out of thin air.

[_Surveys_ CHARLES _with piercing scrutiny_.

CHARLES. Nay, see through me an thou can'st. Thou wilt find me a most material shadow, the like of which no eye hath ever pierced. 'Twas not out of the air, but out of yonder clock that I materialized.

BETTY. Yea, father, I put him there.

COTTON. [_Going to the clock and opening it._] Of a truth, the evidence, all told, is here. Thou wert of a certainty in the clock. [_Takes out the detached pendulum. Steps back and surveys the timepiece, whose hands clearly indicate a time long pa.s.sed or not yet come._] And as far as pendulums are concerned [_looking ruefully at the one in his hand_], thou certainly wert no improve----

CHARLES. Aye, that I'll warrant. And may I never more be called to fulfil such position; the requirements be far too exacting for one of my build and const.i.tution.

COTTON. But what extremity hath induced thee to take up thine abode in such a place?

[_Lays the pendulum aside and gives_ CHARLES _his entire attention_.

CHARLES. Why, that came all in the course of events as I take it. When I returned a short time ago, hard upon mine heels came Adonijah; and, being loath either to leave the field or share it, I hid within the clock. Once there, the temptation to help time in covering its course grew strong upon me in the hope that Adonijah, misled by the lateness of the hour, would soon depart. Only I looked not for such a departure.

Judge me not too harshly, sire, for I love thy daughter, and if thou wilt give thy consent to our marriage I will do all that becometh a man to deserve such treasure.

COTTON. I like not thy frivolous manner of wearing hair that is not thine own; it becomes thee not. And I strongly mistrust thine att.i.tude toward the more serious things of life.

CHARLES. If my wig standeth between me and my heart's desire, why, I'll have no wig at all. [_He pulls the wig off and tosses it aside._ BETTY, _with a little cry, picks it up and smooths its disarranged curls_.] And as for mine outlook on life, I promise thee that hath but matched the outer trappings, and can be doffed as quickly. I am as serious beneath all outward levity as any sober-minded judge, and can act accordingly.

COTTON. See to it that thou suit the action to those words. My heart is strangely moved toward thee, yet I would ponder the matter more deeply.

[_Turns to_ BETTY, _who has been absent-mindedly twirling the curls on the wig_.] And where is thy voice, my daughter? Thou art strangely silent--[_as an afterthought_] for the once. But it is of small wonder, since thou hast had enough excitement for one evening. Methinks that scoundrel, Adonijah, needeth following up. Do thou remain with Betty, Charles, and I will hasten after him.

CHARLES. Nay, thou need'st not trouble thyself regarding Adonijah. He hath much too wholesome a regard for the ducking-stool to cause further mischief.

COTTON. Nevertheless, I will away to the council and make sure. [_He plants his hat on his head and departs._

CHARLES. [_Turning to_ BETTY, _who has dropped the wig on the settee, and who is now gazing demurely at the floor_.] And now to finish up where we left off. The devil hath led us a merrier dance than we suspected. Thou hast not truly given answer to the question I have asked of thee.

BETTY. What more of an answer would'st thou yet require?

CHARLES. Why, I have yet had none at all.

BETTY. Must tell thee further?

CHARLES. [_Gravely._] Thou must.

BETTY. [_Mischievously._] Then--put the question once again.

CHARLES. Thou knowest the question, an thou wilt.

BETTY. An' thou knowest the answer.

[CHARLES _takes her in his arms_.

BETTY. [_Holding up her hand so that the ring sparkles._] Look, Charles--the diabolical circle!

CURTAIN

THE FAR-AWAY PRINCESS

BY

HERMANN SUDERMANN

_The Far-Away Princess_ is reprinted by special arrangement with Charles Scribner's Sons, the publishers of _Roses_, from which this play is taken. For permission to perform address the publishers.

HERMANN SUDERMANN

Hermann Sudermann, one of the foremost of the Continental European dramatists, was born at Matziken, in East Prussia, Germany, September 30, 1857. He attended school at Elbing and Tilsit, and then at fourteen became a druggist's apprentice. He received his university training at Konigsberg and Berlin. Soon he devoted his energies to literary work.

His greatest literary work is in the field of the drama, in which he became successful almost instantly. His strength is not in poetic beauty and in deep insight into human character, as in the instance of a number of other German dramatists. He is essentially a man of the theatre, a dramatist, and a technician by instinct. He is a dramatic craftsman of the first order.

His chief one-act plays are in two volumes: _Morituri_, which contains _Teja_, _Fritchen_, and _The Eternal Masculine_; and _Roses_, which contains _Streaks of Light_, _Margot_, _The Last Visit_, and _The Far-Away Princess_.

_The Far-Away Princess_ is one of the most subtle and most delicate of Sudermann's plays. Its technic is exemplary.

CHARACTERS

THE PRINCESS VON GELDERN BARONESS VON BROOK, _her maid of honor_ FRAU VON HALLDORF LIDDY } _her daughters_ MILLY } FRITZ STRuBEL, _a student_ FRAU LINDEMANN ROSA, _a waitress_ A LACKEY

THE FAR-AWAY PRINCESS[L]

THE PRESENT DAY: _The scene is laid at an inn situated above a watering-place in central Germany._

_The veranda of an inn. The right side of the stage and half of the background represent a framework of gla.s.s enclosing the veranda.

The left side and the other half of the background represent the stone walls of the house. To the left, in the foreground, a door; another door in the background, at the left. On the left, back, a buffet and serving-table. Neat little tables and small iron chairs for visitors are placed about the veranda. On the right, in the centre, a large telescope, standing on a tripod, is directed through an open window._ ROSA, _dressed in the costume of the country, is arranging flowers on the small tables_. FRAU LINDEMANN, _a handsome, stoutish woman in the thirties, hurries in excitedly from the left_.

FRAU LINDEMANN. There! Now she can come--curtains, bedding--everything fresh and clean as new! No, this honor, this unexpected honor--! Barons and counts have been here often enough. Even the Russian princes sometimes come up from the Springs. I don't bother my head about them--they're just like--that!--But a princess--a real princess!

ROSA. Perhaps it isn't a real princess after all.