Читать книгу High Treason and Low Comedy - Robert T. O’Keeffe - Страница 12

(Redl’s darkened hotel room)

REDL (he enters, turns on the light, collapses into a chair): It’s all blown away! (He slowly sits up straight and lays his military cap aside.) Adieu, you cap with your cockade! (He unfastens his sword.) They’re going to break you in half. (He looks at his decorations, touches the military stars on his collar, and then tears off his overcoat.) Away with it! (There’s a soft knock on the door, he pulls himself together.) You’re already here? (There’s another knock. He tries to call out “Enter”, but only makes an inarticulate sound.)

FRANZI (she opens the door): Please forgive me, Herr Colonel ...

REDL: Who’s there?

FRANZI: It’s me, Herr Colonel.

REDL: Oh yes, excuse me, young woman. (He quickly pulls his coat back on. Franzi remains standing at the door.) Please, come right in.

FRANZI: Herr Colonel, I’ve come to request something from you.

REDL: “To request something from you”! Somebody comes to request something from me! (He laughs hysterically.)

Two hours are a long time

FRANZI (startled): Are you sick, Herr Colonel?

REDL: Yes, sick. Just a little bit sick, it’s only a lethal illness. But, what ... (he pulls himself together) How may I be of service to you, my dear young woman?

FRANZI: I’ve come here from Stefan. He’s made all his preparations for the trip.

REDL: For the trip?

FRANZI: Yes, he told me that he’s taking a trip with you ...

REDL: Taking a trip with me?

FRANZI: He told me all about it, he didn’t hide anything —— he said he’d given you his word of honor.

REDL: Yes, he did give his word of honor. But that was a long time ago, a frightfully long time ago.

FRANZI: No, it was just two hours ago, right after I left here.

REDL: Two hours ago! ... Two hours is a long, long time, my dear young woman. You don’t realize what can happen in two hours, two hours is the difference between supreme good luck and the worst misfortune, two hours suffice to split up a beautiful blooming tree into firewood —— is it really only two hours since you were last here?

Tell Stefan I send him my greetings

FRANZI: Yes. And I learned something too during those two hours. I’ve behaved badly, I demanded things when I should have been begging a favor from you. I should have presented myself to you for what I am, a weak young woman, a woman who doesn’t have anything else in the world besides him, besides my fine, dear Stefan, and I can’t live without him. I should have thrown myself down at your feet (here she kneels down) and begged of you: Let me have my Stefan. You’re a very big man, Herr Colonel, you enjoy the respect and trust of others, you’ve got the brightest of futures, thousands envy you your good fortune, yes thousands ...

(With a quick glance Redl sees that Franzi is kneeling down. He reacts to her words with a perplexed laugh, which, when he hears “good fortune”, turns into a burst of sobbing. He staggers.)

FRANZI (she jumps up, startled; she props him up): For heaven’s sake, what’s going on with you?

REDL (after pausing): It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it —— I’m not going to stand in your way. Stefan won’t ever see me again. Tell him I send him my greetings, that I wish him better luck than I’ve had, tell him ...

FRANZI: What’s the matter, Herr Colonel? What’s happened to you?

REDL: ... tell him that I was thinking of him right up until the very last minute ...

FRANZI: What do you mean to do? —— Look, Herr Colonel, I’m only a woman, and I know that you despise women, though I don’t know what’s behind your desperation right now —— but I want to say something to you: an hour ago I realized that my Stefan had made a decision for you and that he wanted to get away from me — then, just for a second, the thought came to me that maybe it would be better if I did away with myself. But in that same instant I also knew that’s not the right way for a decent hu- man being to go. As long as you can work and love there’s no

It’s too late

need for you to die. And that goes for you too, Herr Colonel. (She takes his sword.) What kind of a thing is this for men to make, a thing made to wound others? (She picks up his cap.) Why do you wear the monogram of other men on your head? (She points to his military overcoat.) Why do you wear somebody’s livery, like a lackey. (She fingers the decorations on his coat.) Why do you wear these tinplate awards, like some kind of prize-winning animal? If it’s life you want to pursue rather than death, and if all these things oppress you, then throw them all away! Whether you sweep streets or clean up canals, that’s far more honorable work than recruiting spies and unmasking spies!

REDL: I thank you for that, my dear young woman. Unfortunately, it’s too late for that now.

FRANZI: It’s never too late.

REDL: Perhaps you’re right. But summoning up courage won’t help me now. I must ask you to please leave now, my dear young woman.

FRANZI: I thank you, Herr Colonel.

REDL: It’s you I have to thank, gracious lady.

FRANZI: Good-bye.

REDL: Good-, Good- ...Live well!

(Franzi exits)

A Homosexual? Horrible!

REDL (he goes to his desk and takes out writing paper): Whom should I write to first? The Corps Commander. (He starts to write, tears it up, then starts again. There’s a knock on the door.) Already? Come in!

(Umanitzky, General Höfer, and Major-Auditor Worlitschek enter, wearing their military caps.)

REDL: I know why you’ve come. I won’t waste time denying anything.

UMANITZKY: I have to ask you if you have any accomplices, Mister Redl?

REDL (he startles when he hears the words “Mister Redl”): No, no one.

UMANITZKY: Who recruited you as a spy?

REDL: The Russian military attaché, he had me under surveillance when I was acting as an expert witness at an espionage trial, and he found out then that I ... (he pauses) ... that I’m a homosexual.

I’m a victim of blackmail.

UMANITZKY: A Homosexual?

HÖFER: Horrible!

WORLITSCHEK: Achh ... the devil take you!

UMANITZKY: Mister Redl, under the highest orders you have to bring this affair to its end within the hour in the only way possible. Have I made myself clear?

You are allowed to ask for a pistol

REDL (after a moment): Yes.

UMANITZKY: You are allowed to ask for a pistol.

REDL: Please ― I respectfully ― request ― a pistol.

(Umanitzky gives the Major-Auditor a signal, whereupon he hands over a revolver: Umanitzky then confirms to General Höfer that he has given it to Redl.)

UMANITZKY (he salutes): Herr General, I respectfully report the completion of our official mission.

(Höfer salutes back to Umanitzky. The three men leave the room. Redl takes the revolver, lifts it toward his open mouth, and the curtain falls, after which a shot is heard.)

THE END