u love me still, Tellheim?

MAJ. T.
Madam, that question!!!!!

MIN.
You have promised to answer Yes, or No.

MAJ. T.
And added, If I can.

MIN.
You can. You must know what passes in your heart. Do you love me
still, Tellheim? Yes, or No?

MAJ. T.
If my heart!!!!!

MIN.
Yes, or No?

MAJ. T.
Well, Yes!

MIN.
Yes?

MAJ. T.
Yes, yes! Yet!!!!!

MIN.
Patience! You love me still; that is enough for me. Into what a mood
have we fallen! an unpleasant, melancholy, infectious mood! I assume
my own again. Now, my dear unfortunate, you love me still, and have
your Minna still, and are unhappy? Hear what a conceited, foolish
thing your Minna was--is. She allowed--allows herself, to imagine that
she makes your whole happiness. Declare all your misery at once. She
would like to try how far she can outweigh it.--Well?

MAJ. T.
Madam, I am not accustomed to complain.

MIN.
Very well. I know nothing in a soldier, after boasting, that pleases
me less than complaining. But there is a certain cold, careless way of
speaking of bravery and misfortune!!!!!

MAJ. T.
Which at the bottom is still boasting and complaining.

MIN.
You disputant! You should not have called yourself unhappy at all
then. You should have told the whole, or kept quiet. Reason and
necessity commanded you to forget me? I am a great stickler for
reason; I have a great respect for necessity. But let me hear how
reasonable this reason, and how necessary this necessity may be.

MAJ. T.
Listen then, Madam. You call me Tellheim; the name is correct. But
suppose I am not that Tellheim whom you knew at home; the prosperous
man, full of just pretensions, with a thirst for glory; the master of
all his faculties, both of body and mind; before whom the lists of
honour and prosperity stood open; who, if he was not then worthy of
your heart and your hand, dared to hope that he might daily become
more nearly so. This Tellheim I am now, as little as I am my own
father. They both have been. Now I am Tellheim the discharged, the
suspected, the cripple, the beggar. To the former, Madam, you promised
your hand; do you wish to keep your word?

MIN.
That sounds very tragic... Yet, Major Tellheim, until I find the
former one again--I am quite foolish about the Tellheims--the latter
will have to help me in my dilemma. Your hand, dear beggar!
(Taking