EUS

Yes.--Won't you sit down, please? (_Looking at his watch_)
Cecilia should be here in an hour.

MARIE

She has had a tremendous success again.

AMADEUS

I should say so! Look here--the telegram I got this morning. (_He
takes it from the writing desk and hands it to Marie_) It refers to
her final appearance last night.

MARIE

Oh.... Twenty-seven curtain calls...!

AMADEUS

What?... Naw! That flourish belongs to the preceding word. Seven only!
Otherwise she wouldn't be coming to-day.

MARIE (_reading again_)

"Have new offer on brilliant terms."

AMADEUS

On _brilliant_ terms!

MARIE

Then I suppose she'll do it at last?

AMADEUS

Do what?

MARIE

Settle down in Berlin for good.

AMADEUS

Oh, it isn't certain. "Have offer," she says, and not "have accepted
offer." No, we'll have to talk it over first.

MARIE

Really?

AMADEUS

Of course. We consult each other about everything, my dear Marie--just
as we used to do. And in a much more impersonal spirit than before. As
far as I am concerned, I shall be quite free next year, and have no
more reason to live in Vienna than in Berlin or in America.

MARIE

But it will be dreadful for me if Cecilia goes away.

AMADEUS

Well, these successes abroad may possibly force the people here to
understand what they have in Cecilia, and to act accordingly.

MARIE

I hope so.--Besides, I think really that Cecilia has developed a great
deal lately. To me her voice seems fuller and richer--with more soul to
it, I might say.

AMADEUS

Yes, don't you think so? That's my feeling, too.

MARIE

But how she _does_ work! It had never occurred to me that a finished
artist might be so industrious.

AMADEUS

Might, you say? Must, you should say.

MARIE

Last summer, when I came out mornings in the garden to play with my
children, she would be practicing already--just like a young student.
With absolute regularity, from nine until a quarter of ten. Then again
before lunch, from twelve to half past. And finally another half hour
in the evening.... If the weather was good or bad; if she was in good
spirits or....

AMADEUS

Or...?

MARIE

She was always in good spirits for that matter. I don't think anything
in the world could have kept her from practicing those runs and trills.

AMADEUS

Yes, that's her way. Nothing in the world could keep her from.... But
then, what could there be to keep her from it last Summer? In that
rustic