own if I
can still stand firm under a broom-stick! But let the lightning
strike me on the spot if I don't worm ten thousand marks a year for
life out of your tricks and frauds! I can tell you that! A pleasant
trip! I'm going for the police! (_Exit._)

SCHIGOLCH. Run, run!

LULU. He'll take good care of himself!

SCHIGOLCH. We're rid of *him*!--And now some black coffee for the
lady!

ALVA. (_At the table left._) Here is coffee, ready to pour.

SCHIGOLCH. I must look after the sleeping-car tickets.

LULU. (_Brightly._) Oh, freedom! Thank God for freedom!

SCHIGOLCH. I'll be back for you in half an hour. We'll celebrate our
departure in the station-restaurant. I'll order a supper that'll keep
us going till to-morrow.--Good morning, doctor.

ALVA. Good evening.

SCHIGOLCH. Pleasant rest!--Thanks, I know every door-handle here. So
long! Have a good time! (_Exit._)

LULU. I haven't seen a room for a year and a half. Curtains, chairs,
pictures....

ALVA. Won't you drink it?

LULU. I've swallowed enough black coffee these five days. Have you
any brandy?

ALVA. I've got some elixir de Spaa.

LULU. That reminds one of old times. (_Looks round the hall while
Alva fills two glasses._) Where's my picture gone?

ALVA. I've got it in my room, so no one shall see it here.

LULU. Bring it down here now.

ALVA. Didn't you even lose your vanity in prison?

LULU. How anxious at heart one gets when one hasn't seen herself for
months! One day I got a brand-new dust-pan. When I swept up at seven
in the morning I held the back of it up before my face. Tin doesn't
flatter, but I took pleasure in it all the same.--Bring the picture
down from your room. Shall I come too?

ALVA. No, Heaven's sake! You must spare yourself!

LULU. I've been sparing myself long enough now! (_Alva goes out,
right, to get the picture._) He has heart-trouble; but to have to
plague one's self with imagination fourteen months!... He kisses with
the fear of death on him, and his two knees shake like a frozen
vagabond's. In God's name.... In this room--if only I had not shot
his father in the back!

ALVA. (_Returns with the picture of Lulu in the Pierrot-dress._) It's
covered with dust. I had leant it against the fire-place, face to the
wall.

LULU. You didn't look at it all the time I was away?

ALVA. I had so much business to attend to, with the sale of our paper
and everything. Countess Geschwitz would have liked to have hung it
up in he