Chapter VI: Part 6

There will hardly be time for work now. Cecilia will be here very soon.

ALBERT

Oh, we can always put in half an hour. I have brought along some notes for the third act.

MARIE

I think I shall go home, as the boys will be expecting me soon.

ALBERT

All right, child, you go on home.

AMADEUS

Why don't you stay instead? I am sure Cecilia will be glad to see you. And then Albert can take you home. You might get Peter to entertain you in the meantime.... Or would you prefer to stay here and listen?

ALBERT

No, child, you had better go in to Peter. Especially as Mr. von Rabagas doesn't appear in the third act--so you won't be losing much.

MARIE

I'll leave you alone. Bye-bye! (_She goes out_)

ALBERT

Now let's fall to! (_He brings out some notes from one of his pockets and begins to read_) "The stage shows an open stretch of rolling ground that slopes gradually toward the footlights. In the background stands a villa, with marble steps leading up to it. Still farther back, the sea can be felt rather than seen." (_Bowing to Amadeus_) "A tall plane tree in full leaf stands in the center of the stage."

AMADEUS (_laughing_)

So you have got it there?

ALBERT

It's meant as a compliment to you.

AMADEUS

Many thanks.

ALBERT (_after a pause_)

Tell me, Amadeus, is it actually true that the Count has become reconciled with the Countess after his duel with the painter?

AMADEUS

I don't know. For a good long while I haven't seen the Countess except at the opera. (_He rises and begins walking to and fro again_)

ALBERT (_shaking his head_)

There's something uncanny about that affair.

AMADEUS

Why? I think it's quite commonplace. A husband who has discovered his wife's (_sarcastically_) "disloyalty"....

ALBERT

That wasn't the point. But that he discovers it only six months too late, when his wife is already deceiving him with another man.--There would have been nothing peculiar about the Count having a fight with you. But the case is much more complicated. Here we have a young man all but killed because of an affair that is long past. And in the meantime you are left perfectly unmolested--or have been so far, at least.

AMADEUS (_walking as before_)

ALBERT

Do you know, what I almost regret--looking at it from a higher viewpoint? That the painter is not a man of genius ... and that the Count hasn't _really_ killed him. That would have put something tremendously tragi-comical into the situation. And that's what would have happened, if ... _he up there_ had a little more wit....

AMADEUS

How? What do you mean by that?

ALBERT

I mean, if I had been writing the play....

AMADEUS (_makes a movement as if hearing some noise outside_)

ALBERT

What is it?

AMADEUS

I thought I heard a carriage, but it was nothing. (_He looks at his watch_) And it wouldn't be possible yet.... You read on, please. (_Once more he begins walking back and forth_)

ALBERT

You're very preoccupied. I'll rather come back to-morrow morning.

AMADEUS

No, go on. I am not at all....

ALBERT (_rising_)

Let me tell you something, Amadeus. If it would please you--and it would be all one to me, you know--I could go with you.

AMADEUS

Where?... What do you mean?

ALBERT

On your tour. For a week, at least, or a fortnight, I should be very glad to stay by you ... (_affectionately_) until you have got over the worst.

AMADEUS

But...! Good gracious, do you think it's because of the Countess...? Why, that story is over long ago.

ALBERT

Which I know. And I know, too, that you are now trying other means of making yourself insensible. But I see perfectly well that, under the circumstances, you can't succeed all at once.

AMADEUS

What circumstances are you talking of anyhow?

ALBERT

My dear fellow, I should never have dreamt of forcing myself into your confidence, but as the matter has already got into the papers....

AMADEUS

What has got into the papers?

ALBERT

Haven't you read that thing in the New Journal to-night?

AMADEUS

What thing?

ALBERT

That Cecilia and Prince Sigismund.... But, of course, you are familiar with the main facts?

AMADEUS

I'm familiar with nothing. What is in the New Journal?

ALBERT

Just a brief notice--without any names, but not to be mistaken.... It reads something like this: "One of our foremost artists, who has just been celebrating triumphs in the metropolis of an adjoining state ... until now the wife of a gifted musician" ... or perhaps it was "highly gifted" ... and so on ... and so on ... "and a well-known Austrian gentleman, belonging to our oldest nobility, intend, we are told ..." and so on....

AMADEUS

Cecilia and the Prince...?!

ALBERT

Yes ... and then a hint that, in such a case, it would not prove very difficult to obtain a dispensation from the Pope....

AMADEUS

Has everybody gone crazy?... I can assure you that not a word of it is true!... You won't believe me?... I hope you don't think I would deny it, if.... Or do you actually mean that Cecilia might have ... from me.... Oh, dear, and you are supposed to be a friend of ours, a student of the human soul, and a poet!

ALBERT

I beg your pardon, but after what has happened it would not seem improbable....

AMADEUS

Not improbable...? It is simply impossible! Cecilia has never thought of it!

ALBERT

However, it ought not to surprise you that such a rumor has been started.

AMADEUS

Nothing surprises me. But I feel as if the relationship between Cecilia and myself were being profaned by tittle-tattle of that kind.

ALBERT

Pioneers like yourself must scorn the judgment of the world. Else they are in danger of being proved mere braggarts.

AMADEUS

Oh, I am no pioneer. The whole thing is a private arrangement between me and Cecilia, which gives us both the greatest possible comfort. Be kind enough, at least, to tell the people who ask you, that we are not going to be divorced--but that, on the other hand, we are not deceiving each other, as it is asserted in these scrawls with which I have been bombarded for some time. (_He indicates the letter which arrived at the same time as Cecilia's_)

ALBERT (_picks up the letter, glances through it, and puts it away again_) An anonymous letter...? Well, that's part of it....

AMADEUS

Explain to them, please, that there can be no talk of deceit where no lies have been told. Tell them that Cecilia's and my way of keeping faith with each other is probably a much better one than that practiced in so many other marriages, where both go their own ways all day long and have nothing in common but the night. You are a poet, are you not--and a student of the human soul? Well, why don't you make all this clear to the people who refuse to understand?

ALBERT

To convey all that would prove a rather complicated process. But if it means so much to you, I could make a play out of it. Then they would have no trouble in comprehending this new kind of marriage--at least between the hours of eight-thirty and ten.

AMADEUS

Are you so sure of that?

ALBERT

Absolutely. In a play I can make the case much clearer than it is presented by reality--without any of those superfluous, incidental side issues, which are so confusing in life. The main advantage is, however, that no spectators attend the entr'acts, so that I can do just what I please with you during those periods. And besides, I shall make you offer an analogy illuminating the whole case.

AMADEUS

An analogy, you say...?

ALBERT

Yes, analogies always have a very soothing effect. You will remark to a friend--or whoever may prove handy--something like this: "What do you want me to do anyhow? Suppose that Cecilia and I were living in a nice house, where we felt perfectly comfortable, and which had a splendid view that pleased us very much, and a wonderful garden where we liked to take walks together. And suppose that one of us should feel a desire sometime to pick strawberries in the woods beyond the fence. Should that be a reason for the other one to raise a cry all at once about faithlessness, or disgrace, or betrayal? Should that force us to sell the house and garden, or make us imagine that we could never more look out of the window together, or walk under our splendid trees? Merely because our strawberries happened to be growing on the other side of the fence..."

AMADEUS

And you would make me say that?

ALBERT

Do you fear it's too brilliant for you?--Oh, that wouldn't occur to anybody. Trust me to fix it. In such a play I can do nothing whatever with your musical talent. You see, I can't let you conduct your symphony for the benefit of the public. And so I get both myself and you out of it by putting into your character a little more sense and energy and consistency....

AMADEUS

Than God has given me originally.

ALBERT

Well, it's not very hard to compete with Him!

AMADEUS

I shall certainly be curious about one thing: how you mean to end that play.

ALBERT (_after a brief pause_)

Not very happily, my dear fellow.

AMADEUS (_a little staggered_)

Why?

ALBERT

It is characteristic of all transitional periods, that a conflict which might not exist to a later generation, must end tragically the moment a fairly decent person becomes involved in it.

AMADEUS

But there is no conflict.

ALBERT

I shall not shirk the duty of inventing one.

AMADEUS

Suppose you wait a little while yet...? Perhaps life itself might....

ALBERT

My dear chap, I am not at all interested in what may be done with us by this ridiculous reality which has to get along without stage manager or prompter--this reality which frequently never gets to the fifth act, merely because the hero happens to be struck on the head by a brick in the second. I make the curtain rise when the plot takes a diverting turn, and I drop it the moment I have proved myself in the right.

AMADEUS

Please, my dear fellow, don't forget when writing your play, to introduce a figure on which reality in this case has lavished much more care than on the hero--I mean, the fool.

ALBERT

You can't insult me in that way. I have always regarded myself as closely akin to him.

[_Marie enters with little Peter and the Governess._

PETER

Mamma is coming!

MARIE

The carriage has just stopped outside.

GOVERNESS

It was impossible to make the boy stay in bed.

ALBERT

And look at the fine flowers he has got!

PETER

That's for mamma!

AMADEUS (_takes a flower out of the bunch_)

I hope you permit, sonny ...

CECILIA (_enters followed by the Chambermaid_)

Good evening!--Oh, are you here, too? That's awfully nice!

PETER

Mamma!--Flowers!

CECILIA (_picks him up and kisses him_)

My boy! My boy! (_Then she shakes hands with the rest_)

AMADEUS (_handing her the single flower_)

Peter let me have one, too.

CECILIA

Thanks. (_She shakes hands with him; then to the chambermaid_) Get my things out of the carriage, please. The coachman will help you. He has been paid already.

CHAMBERMAID (_goes out_)

CECILIA (_taking off her hat_)

Well, Marie?... (_To the other two_) Can it be possible that you have been working?

ALBERT

We have tried.

CECILIA (_to the governess_)

Has he behaved like a little man?

PETER

Indeed I have! Have you brought anything for me?

CECILIA

Of course. But you won't get it until to-morrow morning.

PETER

Why not?

CECILIA

Because I am too tired to unpack. To-morrow, when you wake up, you'll find it on your little table.

PETER

What is it?

CECILIA

You'll see by and by....

PETER

Is my little table big enough for it?

CECILIA

We'll hope so.

AMADEUS (_who is leaning against the piano, keeps looking at her all the time_)

CECILIA (_pretends not to notice him_)

ALBERT

You're looking splendid.

CECILIA

I'm a little bit worn out.

AMADEUS

You must be hungry.

CECILIA

Not at all. We had something to eat in the dining car. Almost everybody did. But I do want a cup of tea. (_To the governess_) Will you see to it, please?

AMADEUS

Let me have a cup, too, and please see that I get a few slices of cold meat.

GOVERNESS

I have given orders for it already. (_She goes out_)

CECILIA

Have you really been waiting for me with the supper?

AMADEUS

No ... I haven't been waiting. I ... simply never thought of it.

CECILIA (_to Albert and Marie_)

Why don't you sit down?

ALBERT

No, we are going, my dear Cecilia. Let me congratulate you with all my heart--that will be enough for to-day.

MARIE

You have celebrated regular triumphs, they say?

CECILIA

Well, it wasn't bad. (_To Amadeus_) Did you get my telegram?

AMADEUS

Yes, it pleased me tremendously.

CECILIA

Think of it, children! After the performance I was commanded to appear in the box of His Majesty!

ALBERT

Commanded...? Invited, I hope you mean! Neither emperor nor king has the right to command you.

CECILIA

You old anarchist! But what does it matter? One goes to the box nevertheless. And you would have done that, too.

ALBERT

Why not? One must, if possible, study every form of existence at close quarters.

AMADEUS

And what did the Emperor have to say?

CECILIA

He was very complimentary. Had never seen a better Carmen.

ALBERT

The very next thing he'll order an opera for you from some Spaniard.[5]

[5] This refers to a habit of Emperor William's, from whom
the Italian composer, Leoncavallo, among others, once received
such an order.

GOVERNESS (_enters_)

The tea will be here in a moment.

AMADEUS

Now you must get back to bed, Peter. It's late.

GOVERNESS (_wants to take the boy away_)

PETER

No, mamma must take me to bed as when I was a little baby.

CECILIA

Come on then!--Mercy me, how heavy you have grown. (_Goes out with Peter and the governess_)

MARIE

My, but she is pretty!

AMADEUS

Haven't you discovered that before?

ALBERT

Well, good-by then!

AMADEUS

Until to-morrow. I shall be expecting you early--between nine and ten.

MARIE (_to Amadeus as she is going out_)

Don't you regret having to leave her again at once?

AMADEUS

Duty, my dear Marie....

CECILIA (_returning_)

Oh, are you really going?--Good-by then--for a little while!

[_Albert and Marie go out._

CECILIA (_going to the fireplace_)

Home again! (_She sits down_)

AMADEUS (_near the door and speaking rather shyly_)

It's a question whether it can please you as much as it does me.

CECILIA (_holds out her hand to him_)

AMADEUS (_takes her hand and kisses it; then he seats himself_) Tell me all about it.

CECILIA

What am I to tell? I haven't left anything untold--or hardly anything.

AMADEUS

Well....

CECILIA

Getting home every night--and it was quite late at times, as you know--I sat down and wrote to you. I wish you had been equally explicit.

AMADEUS

But I have written you every day, too.

CECILIA

Nevertheless, my dear, it seems to me you must have lots to add. (_With a laugh_) To many things you have referred in a strikingly casual fashion.

AMADEUS

I might say the same to you.

CECILIA

No, you can't. My letters have practically been diaries. And that's more than could be said of yours.--Well, Amadeus...? Without frankness the whole situation becomes meaningless, I should say.

AMADEUS

What is there to be cleared up?

CECILIA

Is it really all over with Philine?

AMADEUS

That was all over--(_rising_) before you left. And you know it. I really don't think it's necessary to discuss bygone matters.

CECILIA

Will she be able to stay in the company, by the way--after this scandal in connection with your--pardon me!--predecessor?

AMADEUS

Everything has been arranged, I hear. And she has even made up with her husband again.

CECILIA

Is that so?--That's rather unpleasant, don't you think? At bottom, it matters very little then to have the story all over. In the case of a man who has the disconcerting habit of not finding out certain things until months afterward....

AMADEUS

It is better not to think of such things.

CECILIA

Has she any letters of yours?

AMADEUS (_having thought for a moment_)

Only the one in which I bade her farewell.

CECILIA

That might be enough. Why haven't you demanded it back?

AMADEUS

How could I?

CECILIA

How frivolous you are! Yes, frivolous is just the word. (_Putting her hand on his shoulder_) Now it's possible to talk of a thing like this, Amadeus. Formerly you might have misunderstood such a remark--taking it for jealousy, or something like that.... But, really, I do hope you don't get mixed up in any more affairs of that kind. I don't like to be scared to death all the time on behalf of my best friend. There is nothing in the world I begrudge you--of that you may be sure. But getting killed for the sake of somebody else--that's carrying the joke a little too far!

AMADEUS

I promise you, that you'll no longer have to be scared to death on my behalf.

CECILIA

I hope so. Otherwise I must leave you to take care of yourself.--And seriously speaking, Amadeus, I hope you don't forget that your life has been preserved for more sensible and more important things--that you have a lot more to do in this world.

AMADEUS

Yes, that's what I feel. I don't think I have ever felt it so strongly in all my life. (_Radiantly_) My symphony ...

CECILIA (_eagerly_)

... is done?

AMADEUS

It is, Cecilia. And ... I didn't mean to tell you about it to-day, but it leaves me no peace....

CECILIA

Well, what is it?

AMADEUS

The chorus in the final passage--you know the principal theme of it already--it is led and dominated by a soprano solo. And that solo has been written for you.

CECILIA

My revered Master! How proud your trust in me makes me!

AMADEUS

Don't make fun of it, Cecilia, I beg you. There is nobody in the world who can sing that solo like you.... That solo is yours--and only yours. While writing it, the ring of your voice was in my mind. Next February, as soon as I get back, I shall have the symphony put on, and then you must sing that solo.

CECILIA

Next Feb...? With pleasure, my dear Amadeus--provided I am still here.

AMADEUS

Why?

CECILIA

Oh, you haven't heard everything yet. After the performance last night the Director had a talk with me.

AMADEUS (_disturbed_)

Well?!--There was a hint in the telegram about brilliant conditions.... But, of course, they could only refer to the next season?

CECILIA

If I can break away from here, they want me in Berlin from the beginning of the year.

AMADEUS

But you can't break away!

CECILIA

Oh, if I really want to. The Director does not care to enforce the contract.

AMADEUS

But you don't want to, Cecilia!

CECILIA

That's a matter for careful consideration. I shall be doing a great deal better there.

AMADEUS

Beginning next Fall, I shall--probably be free. You might wait that long, I should think. Then we could make the move together. But....

CECILIA

It doesn't have to be settled to-day, Amadeus. To-morrow we shall have time to discuss the whole matter thoroughly. Really, I am not in a condition to do so to-night.

AMADEUS

You are tired...?

CECILIA

Of course, you must understand that. In fact, I should very much prefer.... (_She looks in direction of the door leading to her own room_)

CHAMBERMAID (_brings in the tea tray and puts it on a small table_)

CECILIA

Oh, that's right!--May I pour you a cup, too?

AMADEUS

If you please.

CECILIA (_pours the tea; to the chambermaid_)

Open one of the windows a little, will you. There's such a lot of cigarette smoke in here.

CHAMBERMAID (_opens the window at the right_)

AMADEUS

Won't it be too cold for you?

CECILIA

Cold? It has turned very warm again.

AMADEUS

And how did last night's performance go otherwise?

CECILIA

Very well. Wedius in particular proved himself inimitable again.

AMADEUS

You have mentioned him several times in your letters.

CECILIA

You know him since your Dresden period, don't you?

AMADEUS

Yes. He has great gifts.

CECILIA

He thinks a great deal of you, too.

AMADEUS

I'm pleased to hear it.

CHAMBERMAID (_goes out_)

AMADEUS (_helping himself to the cold meat_)

Can I help you to some?

CECILIA

No, thanks. I have had all I want.

AMADEUS

Yes, you have had your supper already--all of you, or "everybody," as you put it a while ago.

CECILIA (_ingenuously_)

I had my supper with Sigismund.

AMADEUS

Was he in Berlin all the time?

CECILIA

He got there two days after me, as I told you in my letters.

AMADEUS

Of course--you have told me everything. Once he accompanied you to the National Gallery.

CECILIA

He also took me to see the Pergamene marbles.[6]

[6] A large collection of art works and other antiquities,
recovered by excavations on the site of the ancient city of
Pergamon in Asia Minor, are kept in the Pergamene Museum,
Berlin.

AMADEUS (_facetiously_)

You're doing a lot for his general education, I must say.--But I should like to know by what fraud Sigismund got himself into that reception of the Director's.

CECILIA

By what fraud?

AMADEUS

Well, you wrote me that he created a regular sensation with those waltzes of his.

CECILIA

So he did. But he didn't have to use fraud to get in. Being a nephew of the Baroness, there was no reason why he should resort to such methods.

AMADEUS

Oh, yes, I didn't remember that.

CECILIA

And by the way, the Director asked very eagerly about you.

AMADEUS

He thinks a great deal of me....

CECILIA (_with a smile_)

Yes, he really does. The moment your new opera is ready....

AMADEUS

And so on! (_He goes on eating_) It surprises me, however, that he should ask you about me.

CECILIA

Why does that surprise you?

AMADEUS (_as if meaning no offense_)

Well, it rather surprises me that he should connect our respective personalities to that extent. Hasn't Berlin heard yet that we are going to be divorced?

CECILIA

Why ... what does that mean?

AMADEUS (_laughing_)

Rumors to that effect are afloat.

CECILIA

What? Well, I declare!

AMADEUS

Yes, it's incredible what the popular gossip can invent. It's even in the newspapers. His Highness the Prince Sigismund Maradas-Lohsenstein is going to lead you to the altar. The necessary dispensation will be furnished by the Pope. Idiotic--isn't it?

CECILIA

Yes.--But, my dear, you say nothing about what is still more idiotic.

AMADEUS

And what can that be?

CECILIA

That you are on the verge of believing this piece of idiocy.

AMADEUS

I...? How can you.... Oh, no!

CECILIA

You haven't considered, for instance, that I am three years older than he.

AMADEUS (_startled_)

Well, if it's nothing but those three years of difference in....

CECILIA

No, it isn't that. No, indeed! Even if I were younger than he, I should never think of it.

AMADEUS

But if his devotion should prove more deeply rooted than you have supposed so far?

CECILIA

Not even then.

AMADEUS

Why?

CECILIA

Why...? I know that it couldn't last forever anyhow.

AMADEUS

Have you the end in mind already?

CECILIA

I am not saying that I have it in mind.... But I don't doubt it must come, as it always comes.

AMADEUS

And then...?

CECILIA (_shrugs her shoulders_)

AMADEUS

And then?

CECILIA

How could I know, Amadeus? There are prospects of so many kinds.

AMADEUS (_cowering a moment before those words_)

Yes, that's true. Life is full of prospects. Everywhere, wherever you turn, there are temptations and promises--when you have determined to be free, and to take life lightly, as we have done.... That's what you meant, was it not?

CECILIA

Yes, precisely.

AMADEUS

Tell me, Cecilia.... (_He draws closer to her_) There is one thing I should like to know--whether Sigismund has any idea that your mind is harboring such thoughts--which, after all, would appear rather weird to the other party concerned.

CECILIA

Sigismund...? How can you imagine?! Such things you admit only to your friends. (_She gives her hand to him_)

AMADEUS (_in the same friendly manner_)

But if he should notice anything ... although I think it very improbable that he is the kind of man who would.... But let us suppose that he concluded from various signs that some such thoughts were passing through your head--would you deny them, if he asked you?

CECILIA

I believe myself capable of it.

AMADEUS (_with a shrinking_)

Oh.... Let me tell you, Cecilia.... You are having something definite in mind.... Yes, I am sure of it.... It's a question of some definite prospect.

CECILIA (_smiling_)

That might be possible.

AMADEUS

What has happened, Cecilia?

CECILIA

Nothing.

AMADEUS

Then there is danger in the air.

CECILIA

Danger...? What could that mean to us? To him who has no obligations there can be no cause for fear.

AMADEUS (_taking her lightly by the arm_)

Stop playing with words! I can see through the whole thing just the same.--I know! It has been brought home to me by a number of passages in your letters--although they ceased long ago to have the frankness due to our friendship. That new prospect is Wedius!

CECILIA

In what respect did my letters fail to be frank? Didn't I write you immediately after the "Onyegin" performance, that there was something fascinating about his personality?

AMADEUS

So you have said before, of many people. But there was never any such prospect implied in it.

CECILIA

Everything begins to take on new meanings when you are free.

AMADEUS

You are not telling me everything.... What has happened?

CECILIA

Nothing has happened, but (_with sudden decision_) if I had stayed ... who knows....

AMADEUS (_seems to shrink back again; then he walks to and fro; finally he remains standing in the background, near one of the windows_) Poor Sigismund!

CECILIA

Why pity him? He knows nothing about it.

AMADEUS (_resuming his superior tone_)

Is that what draws you to Berlin?

CECILIA

No!... Indeed, no! The spell has been broken ... it seems....

AMADEUS

And yet you talk of going about New Year....

CECILIA (_rising_)

My dear Amadeus, I am really too tired to discuss that matter to-day. Now I shall say good-night to you. It is quite late. (_She holds out her hand to him_)

AMADEUS (_faltering_)

Good-night, Cecilia!... (_He clings to her hand_) You have been gone three weeks. I shall leave early the day after to-morrow--and when _I_ return, you will be gone, I suppose.... There can't be so very much to your friendship, if you won't stay and talk a while with me under such circumstances.

CECILIA

What's the use of being sentimental? Leave-takings are familiar things to us.

AMADEUS

That's true. But nevertheless this will be a new kind of leave-taking, and a new kind of home-coming also.

CECILIA

Well, seeing that it had to turn out this way....

AMADEUS

But neither of us ever imagined that it would turn out this way.

CECILIA

Oh?

AMADEUS

No, Cecilia, we did _not_ imagine it. The remarkable thing has been that we retained our faith in each other in the midst of all doubts, and that, even when away from each other, we used to feel calm and confident far beyond what was safe, I suppose. But it was splendid. Separation itself used to have a sort of charm of its own--_formerly_.

CECILIA

Naturally. It isn't possible to love in that undisturbed fashion except when you are miles apart.

AMADEUS

You may be able to make fun of it to-day, Cecilia, but there will never again be anything like it--neither for you nor for me. You can be sure of that.

CECILIA

I know that as well as you do.--But why should you all at once begin to talk as if, somehow, everything would be over between us two, and as if the best part of our life had been irretrievably lost? That's not the case, after all. It cannot possibly be the case. Both of us know that we remain the same as before--don't we--and that everything else that has happened to us, or may happen to us, can be of no particular importance.... And even if it should become important, we shall always be able to join hands, no matter what chasms open between us.

AMADEUS

You speak very sensibly, as usual.

CECILIA

If you seduce ladies by the dozen, and if gentlemen shoot each other dead for my sake--as they do for the sake of Countess Philine--what has that to do with our friendship?

AMADEUS

That's beyond contradiction. Nevertheless, I hadn't expected--in fact, I think it nothing less than admirable--your ability to adjust yourself to everything--your way of remaining perfectly calm in the midst of any new experiences or expectations.

CECILIA

Calm...? Here I am ... by our fireplace ... taking tea in your company. Here I can and shall always be calm. That's the significance of our whole life in common. Whatever may be my destiny in the world at large will slip off me when I enter here. All the storms are on the outside.

AMADEUS

That's more than you can be sure of, Cecilia. Things might happen that would weigh more heavily on you than you can imagine at this moment.

CECILIA

I shall always have the strength to throw off things according to my will before I come to you. And if that strength should ever fail me, I shall come to the door and no farther.

AMADEUS

Oh, no, you mustn't! That would not be in keeping with our agreement. It is just when life grows heavy that I'll be here to help you bear it.

CECILIA

Who knows whether you will always be ready to do so?

AMADEUS

Always--on my oath! No matter what befall you, whether it be sad or wretched, you can always find refuge and sympathy with me. But with all my heart I wish you may be spared most of those things.

CECILIA

That I be spared...? No, Amadeus, a wish like that I can't accept. Hitherto--I have lived so little hitherto. And I am longing for it. I long for all that's sad and sweet in life, for all that's beautiful and all that's pitiful. I long for storms, for perils--for worse than that, perhaps.

AMADEUS

No, Cecilia, that's nothing but imagination!

CECILIA

Oh, no!

AMADEUS

Certainly, Cecilia. You don't know very much as yet, and you imagine many things simpler and cleaner than they are. But there are things you couldn't stand, and others of which you are not capable.--I know you, Cecilia.

CECILIA

You know me?--You know only what I have been to you--what I have been as your beloved and your wife. And as you used to mean the whole world to me--as all my longing, all my tenderness, was bounded by you--we could never guess in those days what might prove my destiny when the real world was thrown open to me.--Even to-day, Amadeus, I am no longer the same as before.... Or perhaps I have always been the same as I am now, but didn't know it merely. And something has fallen away, that used to cover me up in the past.... Yes, that's it: for now I can feel all those desires that used to pass me by as if deflected by a cuirass of insensibility.... Now I can feel how they touch my body and my soul, filling me with qualms and passions. The earth seems full of adventure. The sky seems radiant with flames. And it is as if I could see myself stand waiting with wide-open arms.

AMADEUS (_as if calling to somebody in flight_)

Cecilia!

CECILIA

What is the matter?

AMADEUS

Nothing.... The words you speak cannot estrange me after all that I have learned already. But there is a new ring in your voice that I have never heard until to-day. Nor have I ever seen that light in your eyes until to-day.

CECILIA

That's what you imagine, Amadeus. If that were really the case, then I should feel the same in regard to you. But I can see no difference in you at all. And I can't imagine how you possibly could come to seem different. To other women you may appear a mischiefmaker--or a silly youth--which has probably happened many times: but to me you will always remain the same as ever. And I have a feeling that, in the last instance, nothing can ever happen to the Amadeus I am thinking of.

AMADEUS

If I could only feel the same--in regard to you! But such assurance is not mine. The recklessness and greed with which you make your way into an unknown world are filling me with outright fear on your behalf. The idea that there are people who know as little of you as you of them at this moment, and to whom you are going to belong...

CECILIA

I shall belong to nobody ... now, that I am free ...

AMADEUS

... who are part of your destiny already, as you of theirs ... it seems to me uncanny. And you are no more the Cecilia I used to love--no! You resemble closely one who was very dear to me, and yet you are not at all the same as she. No, you are not the woman that was my wife for years. I could feel it the moment you entered the place.... The connection between the young girl who sank into my arms one evening seven years ago and the woman who has just returned from abroad to dwell for a brief while in this house seems quite mysterious. For seven years I have been living with another woman--with a quiet, kindly woman--with a sort of angel perhaps, who has now disappeared. She who came to-day has a voice that I have never heard, a look that I am foreign to, a beauty that is strange to me--a beauty not surpassing what the other had, except in being more cruel possibly--and yet a beauty that should confer much greater happiness, I think.

CECILIA

Don't look at me like that!... Don't talk to me like that!... That's not the way to talk to a friend! Don't forget I am no more the one I used to be. When you talk to me like that, Amadeus, it is as if here, too, I should be fanned by those cajoling breaths that nowadays so often touch me like caresses--breaths that make life seem incredibly light, and that make you feel ready for so much that formerly would have appeared incomprehensible.

AMADEUS

If you could guess, Cecilia, how your words hurt me and excite me at the same time!

CECILIA (_brusquely_)

You must not talk like that, Amadeus. I don't want it. Be sensible, for my sake as well as your own. Good-night.

AMADEUS

Are you going, Cecilia?

CECILIA

Yes. And bear in mind that we are friends and want to remain such.

AMADEUS

Bear in mind that we have always wanted to be _honest_. And it is not honest--either for you or me--to say that we stand face to face as friends in this moment.... Cecilia--the _one_ thing I can feel at this moment is that you are beautiful ... beautiful as you have never been before!

CECILIA

Amadeus, Amadeus, are you forgetting all that has happened?

AMADEUS

I could forget it--and so could you.

CECILIA

Oh, I remember--I remember! (_She wants to leave_)

AMADEUS

Stay, Cecilia, stay! The day after to-morrow I shall be gone--stay!

CECILIA

Please don't speak to me like that! I am no longer what I used to be--no longer proud, or calm, or good. Who knows how little might be needed to make me the victim of a certain unscrupulous seducer!

AMADEUS

Cecilia!

CECILIA

Have you so many friends to lose? One is all I have.--Good-night. (_She tries to get away_)

AMADEUS (_seizing her by the hand_)

Cecilia, we have long ago bidden each other good-by as man and wife--but we have also made up our minds to take life lightly, to be free, and to lay hold of every happiness that comes within our reach. Should we be mad enough, or cowardly enough, to shrink from the highest happiness ever offered us...?

CECILIA

And what would it lead to ... my friend?

AMADEUS

Don't call me that! I love you and I hate you, but in this moment I am not your friend. What you have been to me--wife, comrade ... what do I care! To-day I want to be--your lover!

CECILIA

You mustn't...! You can't ... no....

AMADEUS

Not your lover then ... but what is both worse and better ... the man who takes you away from another one--the one with whom you are betraying someone else--the one who means to you both bliss and sin at once!

CECILIA

Let me loose, Amadeus.

AMADEUS

No more beautiful adventure will ever blossom by the wayside for either one of us, Cecilia, as long as we may live!

CECILIA

And none more dangerous, Amadeus!

AMADEUS

Wasn't that what you were longing for...?

CECILIA

Good-night, Amadeus.

AMADEUS

Cecilia! (_He holds her fast and draws her closer to himself_)

CURTAIN

THE THIRD ACT

_The same room. It is the morning of the following day. The stage is empty at first. Then Amadeus enters from his room at the left. He wears a dressing-gown, but is otherwise fully dressed. He passes slowly and pensively across the room to the writing desk, from which he picks up the waiting pile of letters. Then he puts the letters down again. He feels chilly, looks around, notices that a window is open, and goes to close it. Then he stands listening for a while at the door to Cecilia's room. Finally he returns to the writing desk and begins to pull out manuscripts from its drawers._

AMADEUS

Let's get things in order.... I wonder how this is going to turn out?--I'll write her from some place along my route. I shall never come back here any more.... I couldn't stand it ... no, I couldn't! (_Holding a manuscript in his hand_) The Solo--her Solo! Well, I shall not be present to hear her sing it.

CHAMBERMAID (_entering_)

The men are here to take away the trunk. Here's the check from the expressman.

AMADEUS

All right. Tell them to use the back stairs in taking out the things.

CHAMBERMAID (_goes out_)

AMADEUS

... When I say good-by to-morrow, she won't guess it is forever.... And the boy ... the boy...? (_He walks back and forth_) ... But it has to be. (_Abruptly_) I'll leave this very evening--not to-morrow. Yes, this very evening. (_He begins to pile up sheet music_) I'll have a talk with the Director. If he says no, I'll simply break away. I won't come back here. (_He goes to Cecilia's door again_) I suppose she's still asleep. (_He comes forward and sits down on the couch, leaning his head in his hands_) We have to take lunch together, and she won't guess that it is for the last time.... She won't guess.... And why not? Let her find out ... right now ... I am going to have it out with her. Yes, indeed. (_Rising_) One can't write a thing of that kind. I'll tell her everything. I'll tell her that I can't bear it--that it drives me crazy to think of the other fellow. And she'll understand. And even if she should plead with me to forgive her ... even if she ... oh! (_He goes to her door_) I must tell her at once.... Oh, I feel like choking her!... Cecilia! (_He knocks at her door, but gets no answer_) What does that mean? (_He goes into her room_) She's gone! (_He stays away for about half a minute and comes back by way of the door leading to the garden; then he rings_) Where can she....

CHAMBERMAID (_enters_)

AMADEUS (_with pretended unconcern_)

Has my wife gone out?

CHAMBERMAID

Yes, sir--quite a while ago.

AMADEUS

Oh...?

CHAMBERMAID

It must be nearly two hours now. She said she would be back about one o'clock.

AMADEUS

All right. Thank you.

CHAMBERMAID

Can I bring in your breakfast now, sir?

AMADEUS

Oh, yes--I had almost forgotten. And a cup of tea, please.

CHAMBERMAID (_goes out_)

AMADEUS (_alone_)

Gone!... Well, there is nothing peculiar in that.... Probably to the opera.... But why didn't she tell me...? (_He cowers suddenly_) To him...? No, that couldn't be possible! Oh, no!... And why not?... A woman like her.... There is nothing to keep her from going to him.... (_With a threatening gesture_) If I only had him here!... (_With sudden inspiration_) But that's what I might ... that would be.... To confront him--that's it! To stand face to face with him!... Thus more than one thing might be straightened out.... No, she is not with him.... Where did I get that idea?... That's all over!... But that's what I'll do!... Either I or he!... Many things might then ... everything might then be set right.... He or I!... But to live on like this, while he ... I'll go to Albert. It must be done this very day! (_He disappears into his own room_)

ALBERT (_enters_)

CHAMBERMAID (_follows him, carrying the breakfast tray_) I'll tell the Master at once, sir. (_She puts the tray on a small table and goes out to the left_)

ALBERT (_picks up a moon-shaped roll from the tray and begins to nibble at one of its tips_)

AMADEUS (_enters, having changed his dressing-gown for a coat_)

CHAMBERMAID (_follows him, passes quickly across the room and goes out_)

AMADEUS

Oh, there you are!

ALBERT

Yes. I'm not too early, I hope? Are you ready? I want to read you the third act. (_He takes some papers from his overcoat pocket_) You know the setting, of course--the park, the villa, the plane tree. But first of all I must tell you something. Do you remember Mr. von Rabagas, with whom my wife fell in love? I have retouched him slightly. He's going to be cross-eyed. And now I am curious to see what Marie's attitude will be toward him.

AMADEUS (_nervously_)

All right--later. For the moment there are more important things.

ALBERT

More important...?

AMADEUS

Yes, I want you to do me a great service ... a service that will brook no delay. You have to act as my second.

ALBERT (_rising_)

Your...? Twaddle! You'll simply refuse the challenge! You're not going to let yourself be killed for the sake of Madame Philine--oh, no!

AMADEUS

It is not a question of Philine. And I have not been challenged. I shall issue the challenge. And for that reason I want you to look up our friend Winter at once, and then I must trouble both of you to call on Prince Sigismund, and tell him....

ALBERT (_interrupting him and breaking into laughter_)

Oh, Prince Sigismund!--Thank you ever so much!

AMADEUS (_surprised_)

What's the matter with you?

ALBERT

How obliging! You mean to present me with an ending for the play we concocted yesterday. Thanks. But it's too banal for me--nobody would take any stock in it. I have thought of something much better. You are to be poisoned--yes, sir. And can you guess by whom?--By a brand-new character--one of the secret lovers of your wife.

AMADEUS (_furiously_)

It doesn't interest me in the least. Stop it, please! I'm not making up endings for your fool comedies! This is real life ... we are right in the midst of it!

ALBERT

You don't mean...?! Well, if I have to stand this unseemly and ridiculous interruption ... what do you want of me anyhow?

AMADEUS

Haven't you understood? The two of you are to challenge Prince Sigismund on my behalf.

ALBERT

Prince Sigismund ... on your behalf.... (_He bursts into laughter_)

AMADEUS

You seem to think it very funny, but I assure you....

ALBERT

The point is not that you seem funny to _me_. It's probably balanced by the fact that a lot of people who have thought you funny until now, will all of a sudden think you very sensible ... though they ought to ask themselves, if they had a little logic: why should Mr. Amadeus Adams become jealous on this particular day?... Up to the twenty-third of October he was not, and all at once, on the twenty-third, he is....

AMADEUS

A lot of things have changed since yesterday.

ALBERT

Have changed...? Since yesterday...? Well, I declare!

AMADEUS (_after a pause_)

So that you didn't believe it either?

ALBERT

To confess the truth--no.

AMADEUS

Which means that I am living among a lot of people who....

ALBERT

Will be in the right ultimately. Why should that arouse your indignation? If we were to live long enough, every lie that's floating about would probably become true. Listen to those who belie you, and you will know the truth about yourself. Gossip knows very rarely what we are doing, but almost always whither we are drifting.

AMADEUS

_We_ didn't know we were drifting this way--that much you will admit, I hope.

ALBERT

And yet it had to come. Friendship between two people of different sexes is always dangerous--even when they are married. If there is too much mutual understanding between our souls, many things are swept along that we would rather keep back; and when our senses are attracted mutually, the suction affects much more of our souls than we would care to have involved. That's a universal law, my dear chap, for which the profound uncertainty of all earthly relations between man and woman must be held responsible. And only he who doesn't know it, will trust himself or anybody else.--If you don't mind? (_He begins to butter one of the rolls_)

AMADEUS

So you think you understand...?

ALBERT

Of course! That's my specialty, don't you know?

AMADEUS

Well, if you understand what has happened, and understand it must have happened--then you will also understand that I must face the logical consequences.

ALBERT

Logical consequences...? Here I am talking wisdom, and you clamor for nonsense. And that's what you call logical consequences?... My opinion is rather, that you are about to behave like a perfect fool. Anybody else might do what you now propose: you are the only one who mustn't. For when you propose such a thing, it becomes illogical, ungenerous, not to say dishonest. You want to call a man to account for something which, as he sees it, has been declared explicitly permissible.... In his place I should laugh in your face. If anybody has the right to be indignant here, and to demand an account, it is the Prince himself, and nobody else--as he has not deceived you, but you him.

AMADEUS

Well, that's all one, as he undoubtedly will demand an account.

ALBERT

To do so, he must know.

AMADEUS

I'll see to that.

ALBERT

You mean to tell him?

AMADEUS

If you hold it the shortest road to what I have in mind...?

ALBERT

There's a man of honor for you! And is that the discretion you owe the woman you love, do you think?

AMADEUS

Call me illogical, ungenerous, indiscreet--anything you please! I can't help myself! I love Cecilia--do you hear? And I want to go on living with her. But I can't do so until some sort of amends have been made for the past--in my own eyes, in hers, and--I confess it--in the eyes of the world. Sigismund and I must meet, man to man--nothing else can end my trouble.

ALBERT

And how can it make the slightest difference that you two shoot off your guns in the air?

AMADEUS

One of us must out of the way, Albert!... Won't you understand at last?

ALBERT

Now, my dear chap, that's carrying it a little too far! All the time I have thought you were talking of a duel--and now I find that you are after his life!

AMADEUS

Later on you may feel sorry that you could not refrain from inept jesting in a moment like this even. The case is urgent, Albert. Please make up your mind.

ALBERT

And suppose he should refuse?

AMADEUS

He is a nobleman.

ALBERT

He is religious. His father is one of the leaders of the Clerical Party in the Upper House and a vice-president of the Society for the Prevention of Dueling.

AMADEUS

Well, such things are not inherited. And if he won't, I shall know how to make him. There's no other way out of it. There can be no other alternative, if I am to go on living--with or without her. That will set everything right, but nothing else will. It's the one thing that can clear the air about us. Until it is over, we dare not belong to each other again or--be happy.

ALBERT

I hope Cecilia won't insist on killing off Philine and a few others. That would be just as sensible, but would complicate the situation a great deal.

AMADEUS

Won't you go, please!

ALBERT

Yes, I am going.... And how about our opera?

AMADEUS

Oh, we'll have plenty of time to talk of that. However, just to reassure you--all that is finished lies here in the second drawer, everything properly arranged.

ALBERT

And who is to compose the third act?

AMADEUS

It can be given as a fragment, with some kind of ballet as a filler.

ALBERT

Right you are! Something like "Harlequin as Electrician," or "Forget-me-not." (_He goes out_)

AMADEUS (_remains alone for a while; at first he seems to ponder on something; then he returns to the writing desk and falls to work on his papers; a knock is heard at the door leading to the garden_) What is it?

PETER (_outside_)

It's me, papa. Can I come in?

AMADEUS

Certainly, Peter. Come on.

GOVERNESS (_entering with Peter_)

Good morning.

AMADEUS

Good morning. (_He kisses Peter_) Is it not a little too cold for him out there?

GOVERNESS

He's very warmly dressed, and besides the sun is shining beautifully.

PETER

Papa, have you seen what mamma brought me?

AMADEUS

What is it?

PETER

A theater--a big theater!

AMADEUS

Is that so? And you have got it already?

PETER

Of course. It's over there in the summer-house. Would you care to look at it?

AMADEUS (_glances inquiringly at the governess_)

GOVERNESS

Madame brought it to our room quite early, while Peter was still asleep.

AMADEUS

I see.

PETER

I can play theater already. There is a king, and a peasant, and a bride, and a devil--one that's all red--almost as red as the king himself. And in the back there is a mill, and a sky, and a forest, and a hunter.... Won't you come and look at it, papa?

AMADEUS (_seated on the couch, with the boy standing between his knees; speaking absentmindedly_) Of course I must come and look at it.

CHAMBERMAID (_entering_)

Sir....

AMADEUS

What is it?

CHAMBERMAID

His Highness asks if you'll see him.

AMADEUS

What highness?

CHAMBERMAID

His Highness, the Prince Lohsenstein.

AMADEUS (_rising_)

What?

GOVERNESS

Come, Peter--we'll go back and play in the summer-house. (_She goes out with Peter_)

AMADEUS (_with dignity_)

Tell the Prince.... (_Turning away from her_) One moment, please. (_To himself_) What can that mean...? (_Abruptly_) Ask him to come in.

CHAMBERMAID (_goes out_)

AMADEUS (_walks quickly to and fro, but stops at some distance from the door when Sigismund enters_)

SIGISMUND (_is slender, blonde, twenty-six, elegantly dressed, but appears in no respect foppish; he bows to Amadeus_) Good-morning.

AMADEUS (_takes a few steps forward to meet him and nods politely_)

SIGISMUND (_looks around a little shyly, but wholly free from any ridiculous embarrassment; his manner is in every respect dignified; there is a slight smile on his face_) We have not seen each other for some time, and you'll probably assume that my visit to-day has a special reason.

AMADEUS

Naturally. (_Pointing to a chair_) Please.

SIGISMUND

Thank you. (_He comes nearer, but remains standing_) I have decided to take this step--which has not come easy to me, I can assure you--because I find the situation in which we ... in which all of us have been placed, untenable and, in a certain sense, ridiculous ... and because I think that, in one way or another, it should be brought to an end. The sole object of my visit is to put before you a proposition.

AMADEUS

I'm listening.

SIGISMUND

I don't want to waste any words. My proposition is that you get a divorce from your wife.

AMADEUS (_shrinks back for a moment, staring at Sigismund; then, after a pause he says calmly_) You wish to marry Cecilia?

SIGISMUND

There is nothing I wish more eagerly.

AMADEUS

And what is the attitude of Cecilia toward your intentions?

SIGISMUND

Not encouraging so far.

AMADEUS (_puzzled_)

Cecilia is absolutely in a position to decide for herself. And of course, she would also have the right to leave me--whenever and howsoever it might please her to do so. For that reason you must pardon me if I find the object of your visit incomprehensible, to say the least.

SIGISMUND