The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann - LightNovelsOnl.com
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What? Who is't you say?
ADELAIDE
I think the voice was Motes's voice.
MRS. WOLFF
[_Vehemently._] Go down! Ran! Tell papa to come up! That fool Motes can stay on the other side. He don't need to come sniffin' around in the house here.
_ADELAIDE exits. MRS. WOLFF hides and clears away everything that could in any degree suggest the episode of the stag. She covers the sauce-pan with an ap.r.o.n. ADELAIDE comes back._
ADELAIDE
Mama, I got down there too late. I hear 'em talkin' a'ready.
MRS. WOLFF
Well, who is it then?
ADELAIDE
I've been tellin' you: Motes.
_MR. and MRS. MOTES appear in turn in the doorway. Both are of medium height. She is an alert young woman of about thirty, modestly and neatly dressed. He wears a green forester's overcoat; his face is healthy but insignificant; his left eye is concealed by a black bandage._
MRS. MOTES
[_Calls in._] We nearly got our noses frozen, Mrs. Wolff.
MRS. WOLFF
Why do you go walkin' at night. You got time enough when it's bright day.
MOTES
It's nice and warm here.--Who's that who has time by day?
MRS. WOLFF
Why, you!
MOTES
I suppose you think I live on my fortune.
MRS. WOLFF
I don't know; I ain't sayin' what you live on.
MRS. MOTES
Heavens, you needn't be so cross. We simply wanted to ask about our bill.
MRS. WOLFF
You've asked about that a good deal more'n once.
MRS. MOTES
Very well. So we're asking again. Anything wrong with that? We have to pay sometime, you know?
MRS. WOLFF
[_Astonished._] You wants to pay?
MRS. MOTES
Of course, we do. Naturally.
MOTES
You act as if you were quite overwhelmed. Did you think we'd run off without paying?
MRS. WOLFF
I ain't given to thinkin' such things. If you want to be so good then.
Here, we can arrange right now. The amount is eleven s.h.i.+llin's, six pence.
MRS. MOTES
Oh, yes. Mrs. Wolff. We're going to get money. The people around here will open their eyes wide.
MOTES
There's a smell of roasted hare here.
MRS. WOLFF
Burned hair! That'd be more likely.
MOTES
Let's take a look and see.
[_He is about to take the cover from the sauce-pan._
MRS. WOLFF
