h the chorus to the back of the stage.

Glas stood before the very box of the prompter and quietly and
significantly began to knock with his foot to Dobek for he was to
sing some solo part of which, as was his usual custom, he did not
know a single word. Halt signaled to him with his baton and Glas
with a comically attuned face began to sing some remembered word and
strain his ears for a cue from Dobek, but Dobek was silent.

Halt rapped at his desk energetically, but Glas kept on singing one
and the same thing over and over again, whispering pleadingly to
Dobek in the pauses: "Prompt! Prompt!"

The chorus, scattered at the back of the stage, began to be confused
by the situation, while behind the scenes someone began to recite
aloud to Glas, the words of the unfortunate song, but Glas, all
perspiring and red with anger and emotion kept on singing, in a
circle: "You are mine, oh lovely Rose!" without hearing anything, or
knowing what was going on about him.

"Prompt!" he whispered once more in despair, for already the
orchestra and a part of the audience had noticed what was happening
and was laughing at him. He kicked Dobek in the face and suddenly
stood mute and motionless, gazing with a blank expression at the
public, for Dobek, having received a kick in the teeth, grabbed Glas
by the leg and held him tightly.

"Do you see, my boy! Next time don't try to get frisky!" whispered
the prompter, holding Glas so tightly by the leg that he could not
move. "You are done for! You tried to fix Dobek, now Dobek has fixed
you! Now we are even!"

The situation was saved by Halt and Kaczkowska who began to sing the
following number. Dobek let go Glas's leg, retreated as deeply as he
could into his box and calmly continued to prompt from memory,
smiling good-naturedly at Cabinski, who was shaking his fist
threateningly at him from behind the scenes.

Janina had not yet succeeded in making out what was happening at the
front of the stage, for she saw Grzesikiewicz returning with a large
bouquet in his hand. He resumed his former seat and only when the
chorus again appeared on the proscenium did he rise, walk over to
the orchestra and throw the flowers at Janina's feet. Then he turned
about calmly, passed through the hall and vanished, without caring
that he had called forth a sensation in the theater.

The girl automatically picked up the flowers and retreated to the
back of the stage behind her companions, feeling the eye