The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Xii Part 22

PIEPENBRINK. Here's a quiet spot; we'll sit down here.

FRITZ. Bertha would prefer staying in the ball-room. Might I not go back with her?

PIEPENBRINK. I have no objection to you young people going back into the ball-room, but I prefer your staying here with us. I like to keep my whole party together.

MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Stay with your parents, my child!

PIEPENBRINK. Sit down! (_To his wife._) You sit at the corner, Fritz comes next to me. You take Bertha between you, neighbors. Her place will soon be at your table, anyway.

[_They seat themselves at the table on the right--at the left corner_ MRS. PIEPENBRINK, _then he himself_, FRITZ, BERTHA, KLEINMICHEL.]

FRITZ. When will "soon" be, G.o.dfather? You have been saying that this long time, but you put off the wedding day further and further.

PIEPENBRINK. That is no concern of yours.

FRITZ. I should think it is, G.o.dfather! Am I not the man that wants to marry Bertha?

PIEPENBRINK. That's a fine argument! Any one can want that. But it's I who am to give her to you, which is more to the point, young man; for it is going to be hard enough for me to let the little wag-tail leave my nest. So you wait. You shall have her, but wait!

KLEINMICHEL. He will wait, neighbor.

PIEPENBRINK. Well, I should strongly advise him to do so. Hey! Waiter, waiter!

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Permission F. Bruckman, A.-G. Munich_ ON THE TERRACE ADOLF VON MENZEL]

MRS. PIEPENBRINK. What poor service one gets in such places!

PIEPENBRINK. Waiter!

[_Waiter comes._]

My name is Piepenbrink. I brought along six bottles of my own wine.

The restaurant-keeper has them. I should like them here.

[_While the waiter is bringing the bottles and gla.s.ses_ BOLZ _and_ KaMPE _appear. Waiter from time to time in the background._]

BOLZ (_aside to_ KaMPE). Which one is it?

KaMPE. The one with his back to us, the broad-shouldered one.

BOLZ. And what kind of a business does he carry on?

KaMPE. Chiefly red wines.

BOLZ. Good! (_Aloud._) Waiter, a table and two chairs here! A bottle of red wine!

[_Waiter brings what has been ordered to the front, on the left._]

MRS. PIEPENBRINK. What are those people doing here?

PIEPENBRINK. That is the trouble with such promiscuous a.s.semblies, that one never can be alone.

KLEINMICHEL. They seem respectable gentlemen; I think I have seen one of them before.

PIEPENBRINK (_decisively_). Respectable or not, they are in our way.

KLEINMICHEL. Yes, to be sure, so they are.

BOLZ (_seating himself with_ KaMPE). Here, my friend, we can sit quietly before a bottle of red wine. I hardly dare to pour it out, for the wine at such restaurants is nearly always abominable. What sort of stuff do you suppose this will be?

PIEPENBRINK (_irritated_). Indeed? Just listen to that!

KaMPE. Let's try it.

[_Pours out; in a low voice._]

There is a double P. on the seal; that might mean Piepenbrink.

PIEPENBRINK. Well, I am curious to know what these greenhorns will have to say against the wine.

MRS. PIEPENBRINK. Be quiet, Philip, they can hear you over there.

BOLZ (_in a low tone_). I'm sure you are right. The restaurant takes its wine from him. That's his very reason for coming.

PIEPENBRINK. They don't seem to be thirsty; they are not drinking.

BOLZ (_tastes it; aloud_). Not bad!

PIEPENBRINK (_ironically_). Indeed?

BOLZ (_takes another sip_). A good, pure wine.

PIEPENBRINK (_relieved_). The fellow's judgment is not so bad.

BOLZ. But it does not compare with a similar wine that I recently drank at a friend's house.

PIEPENBRINK. Indeed?

BOLZ. I learned then that there is only one man in town from whom a sensible wine-drinker should take his red wine.

KaMPE. And that is?

PIEPENBRINK (_ironically_). I really should like to know.

BOLZ. It's a certain Piepenbrink.

PIEPENBRINK (_nodding his head contentedly_). Good!

KaMPE. Yes, it is well known to be a very reliable firm.