The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann Volume I Part 77

They've caught one of 'em.

DREISSIGER

[_Hastily._] Has some one gone for the police?

PFEIFER

The superintendent's on his way upstairs.

DREISSIGER

[_At the door._] Glad to see you, sir. We want you here.

[_KITTELHAUS makes signs to the ladies that it will be better for them to retire. He, his wife, and MRS. DREISSIGER disappear into the drawing-room._

DREISSIGER

[_Exasperated, to the POLICE SUPERINTENDENT, who has now entered._] I have at last had one of the ringleaders seized by my dyers. I could stand it no longer--their insolence was beyond all bounds--quite unbearable. I have visitors in my house, and these blackguards dare to.... They insult my wife whenever she shows herself; my boys' lives are not safe. My visitors run the risk of being jostled and cuffed. Is it possible that in a well-ordered community incessant public insult offered to unoffending people like myself and my family should pa.s.s unpunished? If so ... then ... then I must confess that I have other ideas of law and order.

SUPERINTENDENT

[_A man of fifty, middle height, corpulent, full-blooded. He wears cavalry uniform with a long sword and spurs._] No, no, Mr. Dreissiger ...

certainly not! I am entirely at your disposal. Make your mind easy on the subject. Dispose of me as you will. What you have done is quite right. I am delighted that you have had one of the ringleaders arrested. I am very glad indeed that a day of reckoning has come. There are a few disturbers of the peace here whom I have long had my eye on.

DREISSIGER

Yes, one or two raw lads, lazy vagabonds, that s.h.i.+rk every kind of work, and lead a life of low dissipation, hanging about the public-houses until they've sent their last half-penny down their throats. But I'm determined to put a stop to the trade of these professional blackguards once and for all. It's in the public interest to do so, not only my private interest.

SUPERINTENDENT

Of course it is! Most undoubtedly, Mr. Dreissiger! No one can possibly blame you. And everything that lies in my power....

DREISSIGER

The cat-o'-nine tails is what should be taken to the beggarly pack.

SUPERINTENDENT

You're right, quite right. We must inst.i.tute an example.

_KUTSCHE, the policeman, enters and salutes. The door is open, and the sound of heavy steps stumbling up the stair is heard._

KUTSCHE

I have to inform you, sir, that we have arrested a man.

DREISSIGER

[_To SUPERINTENDENT._] Do you wish to see the fellow?

SUPERINTENDENT

Certainly, most certainly. We must begin by having a look at him at close quarters. Oblige me, Mr. Dreissiger, by not speaking to him at present.

I'll see to it that you get complete satisfaction, or my name's not Heide.

DREISSIGER

That's not enough for me, though. He goes before the magistrates. My mind's made up.

_JAEGER is led in by five dyers, who have come straight from their work--faces, hands, and clothes stained with dye. The prisoner, his cap set jauntily on the side of his head, presents an appearance of impudent gaiety; he is excited by the brandy he has just drunk._

JAEGER

Hounds that you are!--Call yourselves working men!--Pretend to be comrades! Before I would do such a thing as lay hands on a mate, I'd see my hand rot off my arm!

[_At a sign from the SUPERINTENDENT KUTSCHE orders the dyers to let go their victim. JAEGER straightens himself up, quite free and easy.

Both doors are guarded._

SUPERINTENDENT

[_Shouts to JAEGER._] Off with your cap, lout! [_JAEGER takes it off, but very slowly, still with an impudent grin on his face._] What's your name?

JAEGER

What's yours? I'm not your swineherd.

[_Great excitement is produced among the audience by this reply._

DREISSIGER

This is too much of a good thing.

SUPERINTENDENT

[_Changes colour, is on the point of breaking out furiously, but controls his rage._] We'll see about this afterwards.--Once more, what's your name? [_Receiving no answer, furiously._] If you don't answer at once, fellow, I'll have you flogged on the spot.

JAEGER

[_Perfectly cheerful, not showing by so much as the twitch of an eyelid that he has heard the SUPERINTENDENT'S angry words, calls over the heads of those around him to a pretty servant girl, who has brought in the coffee and is standing open-mouthed with astonishment at the unexpected sight._] Hillo, Emmy, do you belong to this company now? The sooner you find your way out of it, then, the better. A wind may begin to blow here, an' blow everything away overnight.

[_The girl stares at JAEGER, and as soon as she comprehends that it is to her he is speaking, blushes with shame, covers her eyes with her hands, and rushes out, leaving the coffee things in confusion on the table. Renewed excitement among those present._

SUPERINTENDENT

[_Half beside himself, to DREISSIGER._] Never in all my long service ...

a case of such shameless effrontery.... [_JAEGER spits on the floor._

DREISSIGER