NURSE. How do you know what comes after death?
CAPTAIN. That is the only thing we do know, but of life we know
nothing! Oh, if one had only known from the beginning.
NURSE. Mr. Adolf, humble your hard heart and cry to God for mercy;
it is not yet too late. It was not too late for the thief on the
cross, when the Saviour said, "Today shalt thou be with me in
Paradise."
CAPTAIN. Are you croaking for a corpse already, you old crow?
[Nurse takes a hymnbook out of her pocket.]
CAPTAIN [Calls]. Noejd, is Noejd out there?
[Noejd comes in.]
CAPTAIN. Throw this woman out! She wants to suffocate me with her
hymn-book. Throw her out of the window, or up the chimney, or
anywhere.
NOEJD. [Looks at Nurse]. Heaven help you, Captain, but I can't do
that, I can't. If it were only six men, but a woman!
CAPTAIN. Can't you manage one woman, eh?
NOEJD. Of course I can,--but--well, you see, it's queer, but one
never wants to lay hands on a woman.
CAPTAIN. Why not? Haven't they laid hands on me?
NOEJD. Yes, but I can't, Captain. It's just as if you asked me to
strike the Pastor. It's second nature, like religion, I can't!
[Laura comes in, she motions Noejd to go.]
CAPTAIN. Omphale, Omphale! Now you play with the club while
Hercules spins your wool.
LAURA [Goes to sofa]. Adolf, look at me. Do you believe that I am
your enemy?
CAPTAIN. Yes, I do. I believe that you are all my enemies! My
mother was my enemy when she did not want to bring me into the
world because I was to be born with pain, and she robbed my
embryonic life of its nourishment, and made a weakling of me.
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