on't get scared
afterward, when you watch me dissecting a human soul and laying
out its various parts on the table. They say it is rather hard on
a beginner, but once you have seen it done, you never want to miss
it.--And be sure to remember one thing: not a word about having
met me, or having made any new acquaintance whatever while she was
away. Not one word! And I'll discover her weak point by myself.
Hush, she has arrived--she is in her room now. She's humming to
herself. That means she is in a rage!--Now, straight in the back,
please! And sit down on that chair over there, so that she has to
sit here--then I can watch both of you at the same time.

ADOLPH. It's only fifteen minutes to dinner--and no new guests
have arrived--for I haven't heard the bell ring. That means we
shall be by ourselves--worse luck!

GUSTAV. Are you weak?

ADOLPH. I am nothing at all!--Yes, I am afraid of what is now
coming! But I cannot keep it from coming! The stone has been set
rolling--and it was not the first drop of water that started it--
nor wad it the last one--but all of them together.

GUSTAV. Let it roll then--for peace will come in no other way.
Good-bye for a while now! [Goes out]

(ADOLPH nods back at him. Until then he has been standing with the
photograph in his hand. Now he tears it up and flings the pieces
under the table. Then he sits down on a chair, pulls nervously at
his tie, runs his fingers through his hair, crumples his coat
lapel, and so on.)

TEKLA. [Enters, goes straight up to him and gives him a kiss; her
manner is friendly, frank, happy, and engaging] Hello, little
brother! How is he getting on?

ADOLPH. [Almost won over; speaking reluctantly and as if in jest]
What mischief have you been up to now that makes you come and kiss
me?

TEKLA. I'll tell you: I've spent an awful lot of money.

ADOLPH. You have had a good time then?

TEKLA. Very! But not exactly at that creche meeting. That was
plain piffle, to tell the truth.--But what has little brother
found to divert himself with while his Pussy was away?

(Her eyes wander around the room as if she were looking for
somebody or sniffing something.)

ADOLPH. I've simply been bored.

TEKLA. And no company at all?

ADOLPH. Quite by myself.

TEKLA. [Watching him; she sits down on the sofa] Who has been
sitting here? ADOLPH. Over there? Nobody.

TEKLA. That's funny! The seat is still warm, and there is a hollow
here that looks as if it had been m