you think we had better draw the curtains?

Rorlund: Yes, that was exactly what I meant.

(The ladies resume their places at the work-table; RORLUND shuts the
verandah door, and draws the curtains over it and over the windows, so
that the room becomes half dark.)

Olaf (peeping out through the curtains): Mother, the manager's wife is
standing by the fountain now, washing her face.

Mrs. Bernick: What? In the middle of the marketplace?

Mrs. Rummel: And in broad daylight, too!

Hilmar: Well, I must say if I were travelling across a desert waste and
found myself beside a well, I am sure I should not stop to think
whether--. Ugh, that frightful clarinet!

Rorlund: It is really high time the police interfered.

Bernick: Oh no; we must not be too hard on foreigners. Of course these
folk have none of the deep-seated instincts of decency which restrain
us within proper bounds. Suppose they do behave outrageously, what does
it concern us? Fortunately this spirit of disorder, that flies in the
face of all that is customary and right, is absolutely a stranger to
our community, if I may say so--. What is this! (LONA HESSEL walks
briskly in from the door on the right.)

The Ladies (in low, frightened tones): The circus woman! The manager's
wife!

Mrs. Bernick: Heavens, what does this mean?

Martha (jumping up): Ah--!

Lona: How do you do, Betty dear! How do you do, Martha! How do you do,
brother-in-law!

Mrs. Bernick (with a cry): Lona--!

Bernick (stumbling backwards): As sure as I am alive--!

Mrs. Holt: Mercy on us--!

Mrs. Rummel: It cannot possibly be--!

Hilmar: Well! Ugh!

Mrs. Bernick: Lona--! Is it really--?

Lona: Really me? Yes, indeed it is; you may fall on my neck if you
like.

Hilmar: Ugh, ugh!

Mrs. Bernick: And coming back here as--?

Mrs. Bernick: And actually mean to appear in--?

Lona: Appear? Appear in what?

Bernick: Well, I mean--in the circus--

Lona: Ha, ha, ha! Are you mad, brother-in-law? Do you think I belong to
the circus troupe? No, certainly I have turned my hand to a good many
things and made a fool of myself in a good many ways--

Mrs. Rummel: Hm!

Lona: But I have never tried circus riding.

Bernick: Then you are not--?

Mrs. Bernick: Thank Heaven!

Lona: No, we travelled like other respectable folk, second-class,
certainly, but we are accustomed to that.

Mrs. Bernick: We, did you say?

Bernick (taking a step for-ward): Whom do you mean by "w