When We Dead Awaken | Page 4

with me?
MAIA.
[Behind him, bending over the back of his chair.] That you must tell me.
You have begun to wander about without a moment's peace. You
cannot rest anywhere--neither at home nor abroad. You have become
quite misanthropic of late.
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[With a touch of sarcasm.] Dear me--have you noticed that?

MAIA.
No one that knows you can help noticing it. And then it seems to me so
sad that you have lost all pleasure in your work.
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
That too, eh?
MAIA.
You that used to be so indefatigable--working from morning to night!
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Gloomily.] Used to be, yes---
MAIA.
But ever since you got your great masterpiece out of hand---
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Nods thoughtfully.] "The Resurrection Day"---
MAIA.
--the masterpiece that has gone round the whole world, and made you
so famous---
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
Perhaps that is just the misfortune, Maia.
MAIA.
How so?
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
When I had finished this masterpiece of mine--[Makes a passionate
movement with his hand]--for "The Resurrection Day" is a masterpiece!
Or was one in the beginning. No, it is one still. It must, must, must be a
masterpiece!
MAIA.
[Looks at him in astonishment.] Why, Rubek--all the world knows that.
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Short, repellently.] All the world knows nothing! Understands
nothing!
MAIA.
Well, at any rate it can divine something---
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
Something that isn't there at all, yes. Something that never was in my
mind. Ah yes, that they can all go into ecstasies over! [Growling to
himself.] What is the good of working oneself to death for the mob and
the masses--for "all the world"!

MAIA.
Do you think it is better, then--do you think it is worthy of you, to do
nothing at all but portrait-bust now and then?
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[With a sly smile.] They are not exactly portrait-busts that I turn out,
Maia.
MAIA.
Yes, indeed they are--for the last two or three years--ever since you
finished your great group and got it out of the house---
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
All the same, they are no mere portrait-busts, I assure you.
MAIA.
What are they, then?
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
There is something equivocal, something cryptic, lurking in and behind
these busts--a secret something, that the people themselves cannot
see---
MAIA.
Indeed?
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Decisively.] I alone can see it. And it amuses me unspeakably.--On the
surface I give them the "striking likeness," as they call it, that they all
stand and gape at in astonishment--[Lowers his voice]--but at bottom
they are all respectable, pompous horse-faces, and self- opinionated
donkey-muzzles, and lop-eared, low-browed dog-skulls, and fatted
swine-snouts--and sometimes dull, brutal bull-fronts as well---
MAIA.
[Indifferently.] All the dear domestic animals, in fact.
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
Simply the dear domestic animals, Maia. All the animals which men
have bedevilled in their own image--and which have bedevilled men in
return. [Empties his champagne-glass and laughs.] And it is these
double-faced works of art that our excellent plutocrats come and order
of me. And pay for in all good faith--and in good round figures
too--almost their weight in gold, as the saying goes.
MAIA.
[Fills his glass.] Come, Rubek! Drink and be happy.

PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Passes his hand several times across his forehead and leans back in his
chair.] I am happy, Maia. Really happy--in a way. [Short silence.] For
after all there is a certain happiness in feeling oneself free and
independent on every hand--in having at ones command everything one
can possibly wish for--all outward things, that is to say. Do you not
agree with me, Maia?
MAIA.
Oh yes, I agree. All that is well enough in its way. [Looking at him.]
But do you remember what you promised me the day we came to an
understanding on--on that troublesome point---
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Nods.] --on the subject of our marriage, yes. It was no easy matter for
you, Maia.
MAIA.
[Continuing unruffled.] --and agreed that I was to go abroad with you,
and live there for good and all--and enjoy myself.--Do you remember
what you promised me that day?
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Shaking his head.] No, I can't say that I do. Well, what did I promise?
MAIA.
You said you would take me up to a high mountain and show me all the
glory of the world.
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[With a slight start.] Did I promise you that, too?
MAIA.
Me too? Who else, pray?
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
[Indifferently.] No, no, I only meant did I promise to show you---?
MAIA.
--all the glory of the world? Yes, you did. And all that glory should be
mine, you said.
PROFESSOR RUBEK.
That is sort of figure of speech that I was in the habit of using once
upon a time.
MAIA.
Only a figure of speech?

PROFESSOR RUBEK.
Yes, a schoolboy phrase--the sort of thing I used to say when I