d said the lover's litany--"Love like ours can
never die."

HERR HOLTHOFF. Well, love and religion are one at the last.

LASSALLE. They were one once, and neither will be right until they are
one again.

HELENE. A creed is made up of ossified metaphors--lover's metaphors.

DOCTOR HAENLE. Good, and every one can believe a creed if you allow him
to place his own interpretation on it!

LASSALLE. That is what we will do in the Co-operative Commonwealth.

DOCTOR HAENLE. Which reminds me that Bismarck, who loves you almost as
well as we do, declares that you are a Monarchist, not a Socialist, the
difference being that you believe in the House of Lassalle and he in the
House of Hohenzollern.

LASSALLE. Which means, I suppose, that I will be king of the
Co-operative Commonwealth?

HELENE. You will be if I have my way.

DOCTOR HAENLE. Heresy and sedition! The woman who loves a man confuses
him with God, and regards him as one divinely appointed to rule.

HELENE. I can not deny it if I would.

FRAU HOLTHOFF. And yet tomorrow you and Lassalle part!

HELENE. Only for a time.

LASSALLE. For how long, no man can say; that is why I have urged that we
should be married here and now. A notary can be gotten from the village
in an hour--you, dear comrades, shall be the witnesses.

HELENE. It is only my love that makes me hesitate. The future of
Ferdinand Lassalle, and the future of Socialism must not be jeopardized!

DOCTOR HAENLE. Jeopardized?

LASSALLE. Jeopardized by love?

HELENE. The world would regard a marriage here as an elopement. My
father would be furious. Who are we that we should run away to wed, as
if I were a schoolgirl and Lassalle a grocer's clerk! Lassalle is the
king of men. He convinces them by his logic, by his presence, by his
enthusiasm----

HERR HOLTHOFF. He has convinced you in any event.

HELENE. And he can and will convince the world!

DOCTOR HAENLE. I believe he will.

HELENE. And when he wins my parents he will secure an influence that
will help usher in the Better Day. Besides----

LASSALLE. Besides?

HELENE. [_Laughing_] I am engaged to marry Prince Racowitza!

LASSALLE. [_Smiling_] True, I forgot. But when he sees the Goddess of
the Dawn and the Socialistic Sun-God together, he will give them his
blessing and renounce all claims.

HELENE. Exactly so.

DOCTOR HAENLE. Which is certainly better than to snip him off without
first tying the ligature.

FRAU HOLTHOFF. This whole