25. Prefessernhardi
8 PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY
spectacles, with exaggerated Austrian accent):
Good morning! Ah, there you are Professor!
Bernhardi: How do you do, Doctor.
Ebenwald: Have you a second for me?
Bernhardi: Now?
Ebenwald (approaching him): If it were
possible. It is in regard to the appointment
of a successor to Professor Tugendvetter.
Bernhardi: Is there any hurry for that?
(The Sister gives Bernhardi a document to
sign): Excuse me one moment, we have a case
of septicaemia there (pointing to door), a
young #irl, absolutely conscious; she wants to
get up, take a walk, believes herself perfectly
well. You cannot count the pulse any more.
It may be over before an hour is gone.
Ebenwald (pompously): That occurs not
infrequently.
Hochroitzpointner (eagerly): Shall I give
her another camphor injection?
Bernhardi: You might have spared your¬
self the first one—never mind, you gave her
perhaps the happiest hour of her life, though,
suppose, unintentionally.
Hochroitzpointner: Do you consider me a
mere butcher?
Bernhardi: I do not remember having ut¬
tered a reproach of that kind. (Hochroitz¬
pointner and Ebenwald exchange a look.)
Bernhardi (to Sister): Has she relatives?
Sister: Nobody has called.
Bernhardi: Not a lover?
Oscar: Trust him! He won't dare. She
hasn't even mentioned him. Perhaps she does¬
n't know his name.
box 31/8
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY 9
Bernhardi: And that is what they call
love’s happiness.“
Sister (who has been standing near, whis¬
pers to Hochroitzpointner): I'll go now and
get his Reverence to come.
Hochroitzpointner: Yes, you might go. If
vou get there too late, it is no misfortune.
(Sister goes out.)
Ebenwald (displaying impatience): Well,
the case is this, Doctor: I have received a ler¬
ter from Professor Hell, from Graz. He is in¬
clined to accept an appointment as suceessor
to Tungendvetter.
Bernhardi: Ahl he is inclined!
Ebenwald: Yes, sir.
Bernhardi: Did anyone ask him?
Ebenwald: I took the liberty, as his old
friend and class-mate.
(Enter Professor Tugendvetter. About fif¬
ty years old, gray, “side-chops,' effects jovial,
humorous manner. Of uncertain demeanor,
tries to win applause.)
Tugendvetter: Good morning! I have to
talk to you, Bernhardi. His Excellency—I
have just come from his Excellency—sends his
regards to vou.
Bernhardi: Who sends his regards?
Tugendvetter: Flint, the Minister. Ohl we
talked about you. He thinks a great deal of
vou. He remembers with pleasure the time
when von were assistants together at Rappen¬
weiler’s. Ahl he is a winner! First time in
Austria a clinical professor ever rose to be a
Minister.
Bernhardi: He was always a good politi¬