suspect that
all things are of equal importance.

MRS. WEGRAT

How does she look anyhow?

WEGRAT

She is still very pretty.

SALA

Has she preserved her resemblance to that portrait of hers which is
hanging in the Museum?

FELIX

What portrait is that?

JOHANNA

Is her portrait really in the Museum?

SALA

Oh, you know it. In the catalogue it is labeled "Actress"--just
"Actress." A young woman in the costume of a harlequin, over which she
has draped a Greek toga, while at her feet lie a confused heap of
masks. With her staring glance turned toward the spectators, she stands
there all alone on an empty, dusky stage, surrounded by odd pieces of
misfit scenery--one wall of a room, a forest piece, part of an old
dungeon....

FELIX

And the background shows a southern landscape with palms and plane
trees...?

SALA

Yes, and it is partly raised so that still farther off you can see a
pile of furniture, steps, goblets, chandeliers--all glittering in full
daylight.

FELIX

But that's Julian Fichtner's picture?

SALA

Exactly.

FELIX

I had not the slightest idea that the figure of that woman was meant
for Irene Herms.

WEGRAT

Twenty-five years have passed since he painted that picture. It caused
a tremendous sensation at the time. It was his first big success. And
to-day I suppose there are lots of people who no longer remember his
name.--Come to think of it, I asked Irene Herms about him. But strange
to say, not even his "perennial best girl" could tell where in this
world he happens to be straying.

FELIX

I talked with him only a few days ago.

WEGRAT

What? You have seen Julian Fichtner? He was in Salzburg?--When?

FELIX

Only about three or four days ago. He looked me up, and we spent the
evening together.

[_Mrs. Wegrat throws a quick glance at Dr. Reumann._

WEGRAT

How is he doing? What did he tell you?

FELIX

He has turned rather gray, but otherwise he didn't seem to have changed
at all.

WEGRAT

How long can it be now since he left Vienna? Two years, isn't it?

MRS. WEGRAT

A little more.

FELIX

He has traveled far and wide.

SALA

Yes, now and then I have had a postcard from him.

WEGRAT

So have we. But I thought you and he were corresponding regularly.

SALA

Regularly? Oh, no.

JOHANNA

Isn't he a friend of yours?

SALA

As a rule I have no friends. And if I have any, I repudiate them.

JOHANNA

But you used to be quite int