oted, and whom I respect so highly that I would lead her to the
altar, must appear spotless to God and man alike.

AMADEUS

You might have kept that in mind before. Your previous behavior has
given no indication of such a view. You have been waiting for my wife
in the immediate vicinity of the opera; you have been walking with her
for hours at a time; you have visited her in the country; you have
followed her to Berlin and come back here in her company....

SIGISMUND (_surprised_)

But it was in your power to stop all those things, if they didn't suit
you....

AMADEUS

Stop them ... because they didn't suit...? What has that to do with
what I am talking of?--I am not the person who has found this situation
unbearable and compromising.

SIGISMUND

Oh, I understand. Considering, however, that you have placed such
emphasis on your indifference to popular gossip, I must say that your
tone sounds pretty excited. But permit me to assure you that this
impresses me rather pleasantly. Bear in mind that I am merely human.
What young man in my place would have refrained from meeting the adored
one, when everything was rendered so easy for him? And nevertheless I
didn't visit the Pustertal or make the tour to Berlin without an inward
struggle--in fact, I have often had to struggle with myself while
waiting for her near the opera. And I cannot tell you how I have
suffered under the searching glances directed at Mrs. Adams-Ortenburg
and myself when we were having supper together after one of the Berlin
performances, for instance, or when we went for an afternoon drive in
the Tiergarten.[7] Not to speak of the painful impression my aunt's
remarks made on me when I called to bid her good-by! Really, I can't
find words to express it.

[7] A large park in the center of Berlin, corresponding to
the Central Park of New York or the Hyde Park of London.

AMADEUS

How much longer do you mean to keep up this remarkable comedy, my dear
Prince?

SIGISMUND (_drawing back_)

Do you mean....

AMADEUS

What in the world makes you appear before me in a part which I don't
know whether to call tasteless or foolhardy?

SIGISMUND

Sir!... Oh...! You think.... I see now.... And you imagine that I would
have crossed your threshold again under such circumstances?

AMADEUS

Why should _that_ particular thing not be imagined?

SIGISMUND

Later on we shall get back to what you think of me. But a third person
is conce