rce the
contract.

AMADEUS

But you don't want to, Cecilia!

CECILIA

That's a matter for careful consideration. I shall be doing a great
deal better there.

AMADEUS

Beginning next Fall, I shall--probably be free. You might wait that
long, I should think. Then we could make the move together. But....

CECILIA

It doesn't have to be settled to-day, Amadeus. To-morrow we shall have
time to discuss the whole matter thoroughly. Really, I am not in a
condition to do so to-night.

AMADEUS

You are tired...?

CECILIA

Of course, you must understand that. In fact, I should very much
prefer.... (_She looks in direction of the door leading to her own
room_)

CHAMBERMAID (_brings in the tea tray and puts it on a small table_)

CECILIA

Oh, that's right!--May I pour you a cup, too?

AMADEUS

If you please.

CECILIA (_pours the tea; to the chambermaid_)

Open one of the windows a little, will you. There's such a lot of
cigarette smoke in here.

CHAMBERMAID (_opens the window at the right_)

AMADEUS

Won't it be too cold for you?

CECILIA

Cold? It has turned very warm again.

AMADEUS

And how did last night's performance go otherwise?

CECILIA

Very well. Wedius in particular proved himself inimitable again.

AMADEUS

You have mentioned him several times in your letters.

CECILIA

You know him since your Dresden period, don't you?

AMADEUS

Yes. He has great gifts.

CECILIA

He thinks a great deal of you, too.

AMADEUS

I'm pleased to hear it.

CHAMBERMAID (_goes out_)

AMADEUS (_helping himself to the cold meat_)

Can I help you to some?

CECILIA

No, thanks. I have had all I want.

AMADEUS

Yes, you have had your supper already--all of you, or "everybody," as
you put it a while ago.

CECILIA (_ingenuously_)

I had my supper with Sigismund.

AMADEUS

Was he in Berlin all the time?

CECILIA

He got there two days after me, as I told you in my letters.

AMADEUS

Of course--you have told me everything. Once he accompanied you to the
National Gallery.

CECILIA

He also took me to see the Pergamene marbles.[6]

[6] A large collection of art works and other antiquities,
recovered by excavations on the site of the ancient city of
Pergamon in Asia Minor, are kept in the Pergamene Museum,
Berlin.

AMADEUS (_facetiously_)

You're doing a lot for his general education, I must say.--But I should
like to know by what fraud Sigis