Minna von Barnhelm | Page 6

unfeeling wretch. In
spite of gallows, axe, and torture I could . . . yes, I could have throttled
him with these hands, and torn him to pieces with these teeth!
MAJ. T. You wild beast!
JUST. Better a wild beast than such a man!
MAJ. T. But what is it that you want?
JUST. I want you to perceive how much he insults you.
MAJ. T. And then--
JUST. To take your revenge . . . No, the fellow is beneath your notice!
MAJ. T. But to commission you to avenge me? That was my intention
from the first. He should not have seen me again, but have received the
amount of his bill from your hands. I know that you can throw down a
handful of money with a tolerably contemptuous mien.
JUST. Oh! a pretty sort of revenge!
MAJ. T. Which, however, we must defer. I have not one heller of ready
money, and I know not where to raise any.
JUST. No money! What is that purse then with five hundred thalers'
worth of louis d'ors, which the Landlord found in your desk?
MAJ. T. That is money given into my charge.
JUST. Not the hundred pistoles which your old sergeant brought you
four or five weeks back?
MAJ. T. The same. Paul Werner's; right.
JUST. And you have not used them yet? Yet, sir, you may do what you
please with them. I will answer for it that--
MAJ. T. Indeed!
JUST. Werner heard from me, how they had treated your claims upon
the War Office. He heard--
MAJ. T. That I should certainly be a beggar soon, if I was not one
already. I am much obliged to you, Just. And the news induced Werner
to offer to share his little all with me. I am very glad that I guessed this.
Listen, Just; let me have your account, directly, too; we must part.
JUST. How! what!
MAJ. T. Not a word. There is someone coming.

SCENE V. Lady /in mourning/, Major von Tellheim, Just
LADY. I ask your pardon, sir.
MAJ. T. Whom do you seek, Madam?
LADY. The worthy gentleman with whom I have the honour of
speaking. You do not know me again. I am the widow of your late
captain.
MAJ. T. Good heavens, Madam, how you are changed!
LADY. I have just risen from a sick bed, to which grief on the loss of
my husband brought me. I am troubling you at a very early hour, Major
von Tellheim, but I am going into the country, where a kind, but also
unfortunate friend, has for the present offered me an asylum.
MAJ. T. (to Just). Leave us.

SCENE VI. Lady, Major von Tellheim
MAJ. T. Speak freely, Madam! You must not be ashamed of your bad
fortune before me. Can I serve you in any way?
LADY. Major--
MAJ. T. I pity you, Madam! How can I serve you? You know your
husband was my friend; my friend, I say, and I have always been
sparing of this title.
LADY. Who knows better than I do how worthy you were of his
friendship how worthy he was of yours? You would have been in his
last thoughts, your name would have been the last sound on his dying
lips, had not natural affection, stronger than friendship, demanded this
sad prerogative for his unfortunate son, and his unhappy wife.
MAJ. T. Cease, Madam! I could willingly weep with you; but I have no
tears to-day. Spare me! You come to me at a time when I might easily
be misled to murmur against Providence. Oh! honest Marloff! Quick,
Madam, what have you to request? If it is in my power to assist you, if
it is in my power--
LADY. I cannot depart without fulfilling his last wishes. He recollected,
shortly before his death, that he was dying a debtor to you, and he
conjured me to discharge his debt with the first ready money I should
have. I have sold his carriage, and come to redeem his note.
MAJ. T. What, Madam! Is that your object in coming?
LADY. It is. Permit me to count out the money to you.
MAJ. T. No, Madam. Marloff a debtor to me! that can hardly be. Let us

look, however. (Takes out a pocketbook, and searches.) I find nothing
of the kind.
LADY. You have doubtless mislaid his note; besides, it is nothing to
the purpose. Permit me--
MAJ. T. No, Madam; I am careful not to mislay such documents. If I
have not got it, it is a proof that I never had it, or that it has been
honoured and already returned by me.
LADY. Major!
MAJ. T. Without doubt, Madam; Marloff does not owe me
anything--nor can I remember