plainly: no people, no manager, no public, no
colleagues, no playwrights--though, of course, all are not as arrogant
as your precious Sala.--Well, all this I have attained at last. I live
in the country. I have a country house--almost a little palace, you
might say. I have a park, and a horse, and a kimono--to use as much as
I please. It isn't all mine, I admit--except the kimono, of course--but
what does that matter? In the bargain, I live with the best people one
could hope to find in this world. For my brother-in-law is, if
possible, a finer fellow than Lora herself even.

JULIAN

Wasn't he rather making up to you once?

IRENE

I should say he was! He wanted to marry me at any cost. Of course!--It
was always in me that they were at first--I mean that they always _have
been_ in love with me. But as a rule the clever ones have gone over to
Lora. In fact, I have always felt a little distrustful toward you
because you never fell in love with Lora. And how much she is ahead of
me--well, _you_ know, and it's no use talking of it. What all don't I
owe to Lora!... If it hadn't been for her...!--Well, it's with them I
have been living the last half year.

JULIAN

The question is only how long you are going to stand it.

IRENE

How long...? But, Julian, I must ask you what there could be to make me
leave such a paradise and return to the morass where I (_in a lowered
voice_) spent twenty-five years of my life. What could I possibly
expect out of the theater anyhow? I am not made for elderly parts. The
heroic mother, the shrewish dame and the funny old woman are equally
little to my liking. I intend to die as "the young lady from the
castle"--as an old maid, you might say--and if everything goes right, I
shall appear to the grandchildren of my sister some hundred years from
now as the Lady in White. In a word, I have the finest kind of a life
ahead of me.--Why are you laughing?

JULIAN

It pleases me to see you so jolly again--so youthful.

IRENE

It's the country air, Julian. You should try it yourself for a good
long while. It's glorious! In fact, I think I have missed my true
calling. I'm sure the good Lord meant me for a milkmaid or farm girl of
some kind. Or perhaps for a young shepherd. I have always looked
particularly well in pants.--There now. Do you want me to pour a cup
for you at once? (_She pours the tea_) Have you nothing to go with
it?

JULIAN

I think there must still be a few crackers left