FullReads

JULIA.
[Rising]

Stop! I don’t want to hear any more!

JEAN.
Nor did she–curiously enough! Well, then I ask permission to go to bed.

JULIA.
[Gently]

Go to bed on Midsummer Eve?

JEAN.
Yes, for dancing with that mob out there has really no attraction for me.

JULIA.
Get the key to the boat and take me out on the lake–I want to watch the sunrise.

JEAN.
Would that be wise?

JULIA.
It sounds as if you were afraid of your reputation.

JEAN.
Why not? I don’t care to be made ridiculous, and I don’t care to be discharged without a recommendation, for I am trying to get on in the world. And then I feel myself under a certain obligation to Christine.

JULIA.
So it’s Christine now

JEAN.
Yes, but it’s you also–Take my advice and go to bed!

JULIA.
Am I to obey you?

JEAN.
For once–and for your own sake! The night is far gone. Sleepiness makes us drunk, and the head grows hot. Go to bed! And besides–if I am not mistaken—I can hear the crowd coming this way to look for me. And if we are found together here, you are lost!

CHORUS.
[Is heard approaching]:

Through the fields come two ladies a-walking,
Treederee-derallah, treederee-derah.
And one has her shoes full of water,
Treederee-derallah-lah.

They’re talking of hundreds of dollars,
Treederee-derallah, treederee-derah.
But have not between them a dollar
Treederee-derallah-lah.

This wreath I give you gladly,
Treederee-derallah, treederee-derah.
But love another madly,
Treederee-derallah-lah.

JULIA.
I know the people, and I love them, just as they love me. Let them come, and you’ll see.

JEAN.
No, Miss Julia, they don’t love you. They take your food and spit at your back. Believe me. Listen to me–can’t you hear what they are singing?–No, don’t pay any attention to it!

JULIA.
[Listening]

What is it they are singing?

JEAN.
Oh, something scurrilous. About you and me.

JULIA.
How infamous! They ought to be ashamed! And the treachery of it!

JEAN.
The mob is always cowardly. And in such a fight as this there is nothing to do but to run away.

JULIA.
Run away? Where to? We cannot get out. And we cannot go into Christine’s room.

JEAN.
Oh, we cannot? Well, into my room, then! Necessity knows no law. And you can trust me, for I am your true and frank and respectful friend.

JULIA.
But think only-think if they should look for you in there!

JEAN.
I shall bolt the door. And if they try to break it I open, I’ll shoot!–Come! [Kneeling before her] Come!

JULIA.
[Meaningly]

And you promise me–?

JEAN.
I swear!

[MISS JULIA goes quickly out to the right. JEAN follows her eagerly.]

***

BALLET

The peasants enter. They are decked out in their best and carry flowers in their hats. A fiddler leads them. On the table they place a barrel of small-beer and a keg of “braennvin,” or white Swedish whiskey, both of them decorated with wreathes woven out of leaves. First they drink. Then they form in ring and sing and dance to the melody heard before:

“Through the fields come two ladies a-walking.”

The dance finished, they leave singing.

***

JULIA.
[Enters alone. On seeing the disorder in the kitchen, she claps her hands together. Then she takes out a powder-puff and begins to powder her face.]