25. ProfessonBernhardi
32 PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY
you know that our Advisory Board has re¬
signed in a body?
Ebenwald: You seem to be astonished; we
were prepared for that.
Pflugfelder: Astonished? No, but dis¬
gusted! You must agree that the persecution
instituted against Professor Bernhardi has no
foundation whatever.
Ebenwald: I know of no persecution.
Pflugfelder: Oh, you don't; and that your
cousin, Ottocar, is the leader? I suppose
you don't know that, either.
(Enter Filitz, the handsome. General greet¬
ings.)
Filitz: Good evening, gentlemen! Pll tell
you at once what I intend to do. I follow the
example of the Advisory Board and resign.
Ebenwald: I beg your pardon! There is
another way to demonstrate that we do not
countenance the act of our principal. We can¬
not leave our institution; we must try to get
the Advisory Board to reconsider this resig¬
nation.
Filitz: That will never be done as long as
Bernhardi is at the head.
(Enter Adler.)
Adler: Have you seen the evening paper?
Ebenwald: What is the matter?
Adler: The indictment!
Schreimann: Affair Bernhardi?
Ebenwald: We have read nothing.
(Wenger enters. Small, uncertain, depress¬
ed, sometimes too loud. Wears spectacles. Is
carrying the evening paper. Schreimann
pulls it out of his hand. All crowd around.)
4
box 31/8
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY 33
Pflugfelder: Let Filitz read it.
Filitz (reading): The undersigned consid¬
er it their duty to inform the government of
the following: His Reverence, Franz Reder,
Priest of the Church of the Holy Florian was
called by Sister Ludmilla to the death-bed of
Philomena Beier, maiden, to give her the holy
sacrament of the last ointment. In the ante¬
room he was met by several physicians, among
them Professor Bernhardi, Director of the El¬
izabethinum, who in a rough manner, asked
His Reverence to desist from his purpose, as
the dying patient might suffer from the ex¬
citement.
Pflugfelder: No, no!
(The others cry “Silence.')
Filitz (continuing his reading): Professor
Bernhardi, who professes mosaic faith, was
told by his Reverence, that he had come to ful¬
fill a sacred duty, all the more important be¬
cause the patient was dying from the result
of her own act. Professor Bernhardi insolent¬
ly asserted his rights as Superintendent of the
course, was erected
institution, which, of
through the charitable gifts of noble donors.
When His Reverence, refusing further discus¬
7
sion, attempted to enter the sick-room, Pro¬
fessor Bernhardi placed himself in front of
the door, and the moment His Reverence seiz¬
ed the knob to enter the room to perform his
sacred function, Professor Bernhardi dealt him
a blow—
Adler: An absolute falsehood!
Pflugfelder: Infamous!
Ebenwald: There were witnesses.
—
32 PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY
you know that our Advisory Board has re¬
signed in a body?
Ebenwald: You seem to be astonished; we
were prepared for that.
Pflugfelder: Astonished? No, but dis¬
gusted! You must agree that the persecution
instituted against Professor Bernhardi has no
foundation whatever.
Ebenwald: I know of no persecution.
Pflugfelder: Oh, you don't; and that your
cousin, Ottocar, is the leader? I suppose
you don't know that, either.
(Enter Filitz, the handsome. General greet¬
ings.)
Filitz: Good evening, gentlemen! Pll tell
you at once what I intend to do. I follow the
example of the Advisory Board and resign.
Ebenwald: I beg your pardon! There is
another way to demonstrate that we do not
countenance the act of our principal. We can¬
not leave our institution; we must try to get
the Advisory Board to reconsider this resig¬
nation.
Filitz: That will never be done as long as
Bernhardi is at the head.
(Enter Adler.)
Adler: Have you seen the evening paper?
Ebenwald: What is the matter?
Adler: The indictment!
Schreimann: Affair Bernhardi?
Ebenwald: We have read nothing.
(Wenger enters. Small, uncertain, depress¬
ed, sometimes too loud. Wears spectacles. Is
carrying the evening paper. Schreimann
pulls it out of his hand. All crowd around.)
4
box 31/8
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI: A PLAY 33
Pflugfelder: Let Filitz read it.
Filitz (reading): The undersigned consid¬
er it their duty to inform the government of
the following: His Reverence, Franz Reder,
Priest of the Church of the Holy Florian was
called by Sister Ludmilla to the death-bed of
Philomena Beier, maiden, to give her the holy
sacrament of the last ointment. In the ante¬
room he was met by several physicians, among
them Professor Bernhardi, Director of the El¬
izabethinum, who in a rough manner, asked
His Reverence to desist from his purpose, as
the dying patient might suffer from the ex¬
citement.
Pflugfelder: No, no!
(The others cry “Silence.')
Filitz (continuing his reading): Professor
Bernhardi, who professes mosaic faith, was
told by his Reverence, that he had come to ful¬
fill a sacred duty, all the more important be¬
cause the patient was dying from the result
of her own act. Professor Bernhardi insolent¬
ly asserted his rights as Superintendent of the
course, was erected
institution, which, of
through the charitable gifts of noble donors.
When His Reverence, refusing further discus¬
7
sion, attempted to enter the sick-room, Pro¬
fessor Bernhardi placed himself in front of
the door, and the moment His Reverence seiz¬
ed the knob to enter the room to perform his
sacred function, Professor Bernhardi dealt him
a blow—
Adler: An absolute falsehood!
Pflugfelder: Infamous!
Ebenwald: There were witnesses.
—