e will make a hit?" He is
thirty-eight years old, and his career has come to an end in a small
restaurant where his public consists of nurse-girls and
non-commissioned officers, and his one longing is--to get their
applause!

[1] The Prater is at once the Central Park and the Coney
Island of Vienna, plus a great deal more--a park with an area
of 2,000 acres bounded by the Danube on one side and by the
Danube Canal on the other, full of all kinds of amusement
places.

REUMANN (_enters_)

Good evening, Miss Johanna. Good evening, Mr. von Sala. (_Shakes
hands with both of them at the same time_) How are you?

SALA

Fine. You don't suppose one must be your victim all the time because
one has had the honor of consulting you once?

REUMANN

Oh, I had forgotten all about it. However, there are people who feel
just that way.--I suppose your mother is having a little rest, Miss
Johanna?

JOHANNA (_who apparently has been startled by the few words exchanged
between the physician and Sala, and who is looking intently at the
latter_) She is probably awake by this time. Felix is with her.

REUMANN

Felix...? You haven't telegraphed for him, have you?

JOHANNA

Not that I know of. Who could have...?

REUMANN

I only wondered. Your father is inclined to get frightened.

JOHANNA

There they are now.

MRS. WEGRAT (_enters from the veranda with Felix_)

How are you, my dear Doctor? What do you think of the surprise I have
just had?

[_All the men shake hands._

MRS. WEGRAT

Good evening, Mr. von Sala.

SALA

I am delighted to see you looking so well, Mrs. Wegrat.

MRS. WEGRAT

Yes, I am doing a little better. If only the gloomy season were not so
close at hand.

SALA

But now the finest time of the year is coming. When the woods sparkle
with red and yellow, and a golden mist lies on the hills, and the sky
grows pale and remote as if it were scared by its own infinity...!

MRS. WEGRAT

Yes, that ought to be worth seeing once more.

REUMANN (_reproachfully_)

Mrs. Wegrat....

MRS. WEGRAT

Pardon me--but thoughts of that kind will come. (_Brightening up a
little_) If I only knew how much longer I might count on my dear
doctor?

REUMANN

I can reassure you on that score, madam: I shall stay in Vienna.

MRS. WEGRAT

What? Has the matter been settled already?

REUMANN

Yes.

MRS. WEGRAT

So another man has actually been called to Gratz?

REUMANN