The 
 
 BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 By HERMON OULD
 
 CAUPOtNtA 
 ANMB90
 
 
 
 ERRATUM : 
 Page 62 lin 3 ; For " concern trated " read " consecrated
 
 THE BLACK VIRGIN.
 
 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS 
 
 BY 
 
 HERMON OULD 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 CECIL PALMER, 
 
 OAKLEY HOUSE, BLOOMSBURY STREET, W.C.i.
 
 Copyright 1921 by Hermon Quid. 
 All rights reserved by the Author.
 
 TO 
 STANLEY GREGORY, 
 
 As who should say 
 " A tribute from Thirty to Eighteen."
 
 In an ideal production of The Black Virgin the stage 
 instructions would be followed as literally as might be: 
 certain inessentials could, in less happy circumstances, 
 be dispensed with. For instance, the church procession 
 described in Act 1 could be reduced to a handful of 
 persons by the expedient of raising the curtain later 
 and dropping it sooner than an ideal production would 
 demand. 
 
 The setting is only barely indicated. The producer's 
 imagination is relied upon. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that the scene of the play is 
 Southern Bavaria where men and women are less re- 
 served than English men and women. Feelings there 
 are less guarded than our feelings, and actions which 
 we should regard as sentimental are, to them, perfectly 
 natural. 
 
 The " Pathfinders " who figure so prominently in the 
 scheme of the play are known in Germany and Austria 
 as Wandervogel Birds of Passage too cumbersome a 
 label for colloquial usage. They are a loosely organ- 
 ised society of young people who have thrown off the 
 ties of convention in dress, custom and thought: they 
 number tens of thousands and dress with a certain 
 uniformity, the boys in shorts and tunics, the girls in 
 one-piece dresses. They rarely wear hats and often 
 dispense with stockings. One in almost every party 
 carries a lute or a guitar. 
 
 A perspicacious producer will observe that several of 
 the smaller parts could be doubled. 
 
 The Pathfinders' song on page 66 tallies with the folk- 
 tune " Die Reise nach Jutland." " The Forsaken 
 Maiden " on page 70 fits the folk-tune " Warnung."
 
 PERSONS: 
 
 HOWARD 
 
 LENA 
 
 HANNS 
 
 JOHANN 
 
 HEINRICH SACHS 
 
 BERGENROTH 
 
 MAN 
 
 YOUTH 
 
 GIRL 
 
 HARLEQUIN 
 
 BOY 
 
 SECOND BOY 
 
 PATHFINDERS 
 TOWNSPEOPLE 
 
 SCENES : 
 
 Act i. Outside a Church in Burgttein. 
 Act *. Living Room : The Calf Inn. 
 Act 3. The same. 
 
 Act 4. Shreinbaum : a clearing in the 
 forest above Burgstein. 
 
 TIME : 
 
 Mid-Lent Day, 1915. 
 The action passes between noon and 
 midnight.
 
 CHARACTERS DESCRIBED. 
 
 LENA SACHS. Twenty-five; dark and secretive; her 
 beauty has that quality of strangeness which at 
 once allures and keeps at bay. She wears a cos- 
 tume which is a compromise between the char- 
 acteristic Bavarian peasant's dress and the usual 
 German bourgeois dress. 
 
 HOWARD. He is, to outward appearance, what we in 
 our pride call the typical Englishman. Thirty 
 years of age, good-looking ; he eradiates health, 
 physical and moral. With his masculine forth- 
 rightness he unites a tenderness which is almost 
 womanish. He wears the knickerbocker suit 
 of the traveller. 
 
 HANNS. A boy of eighteen. There is nothing " nation- 
 al " about him ; he might be of any nationality. 
 An attractive boy, with a wayward personality 
 which captivates all he meets, men and women. 
 He wears the Pathfinders' costume. For all 
 his spontaneity and lack of restraint, in him, too, 
 there is an enigmatic quality something held 
 back. 
 
 JOHANN. A slightly-built man of twenty- nine, humour- 
 less but emotional. He is sensitive in an ab- 
 normal degree and is always on the verge of 
 hysteria. His movements are rather spasmodic 
 and not under control. He wears unconventional 
 walking costume. 
 
 BERGENROTH. A man of thirty -three, with an assertive 
 manner ; there is something sinister in his way 
 of speaking and nothing generous either in 
 his own conduct or in his estimate of other 
 people's. He is a prosperous farmer and dresses 
 appropriately to his occupation. 
 
 HEINRICH SACHS. A gross old man, full of vitality, 
 cunning and high spirits. 
 
 The OTHER CHARACTERS are sufficiently indicated in 
 the text.
 
 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 ACT ONE. 
 
 Some seconds before the curtain rises one hears music 
 trumpet-music, very slowly blared: it is a church 
 procession in Burg stein, a remote town on the Ba- 
 varian-Austrian frontier. The musicians are townsmen, 
 with a sense of slow rhythm and of the solemnity of 
 the occasion of little else. Between the strophes of 
 the music one hears the mumbling of praying de- 
 votees and one imagines the rosaries. During the 
 prayers the sound of the Sanctus bell is sometimes 
 heard and the tinkle of the censer: perhaps even the 
 fumes of the incense percolate the curtain. 
 
 The curtain opens and discloses the tail of a pro- 
 cession entering the Gothic door of an ancient church. 
 Those who have not yet entered the building are very 
 very old: a man or two and a woman or two. Their 
 faces are weather beaten and are ridged with deeply- 
 cleft lines : the men are bent and doddering ; the 
 women hold their heads more erect and their fingers 
 are busy with their rosaries. 7'he eyes of them all, 
 could one see them, would reveal a sort of numbed 
 suspense: the purport of their lives (if their lives have 
 purport} is held up by this religious ceremony which 
 has claimed the presence of all the old people of 
 Burgstein, most of those of middle-age, and the child-
 
 io THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 ren who have not yet broken free from parental 
 authority. 
 
 The church is somewhat to the right; a low stone 
 wall, springing from its left, runs to the end of the 
 stage and goes off at an angle. The angle of an- 
 other wall, well down stage, completes the suggestion 
 of an approach to an invisible bridge. These are the 
 essentials of the scene: other things a tree or two, 
 possibly a crucifix may be added. 
 
 W hen the old people have disappeared within the church 
 a, cassocked verger closes the door with a look round 
 to see that nobody else is coming. 
 
 HOWARD is sitting on the wall down stage. He 
 jumps down and simultaneously LENA SACHS enters 
 from the Right. She is alone, but immediately following 
 her come HANNS BERCEAU and / OH ANN; the 
 former carries a lute suspended from his neck the 
 latter a stout walking stick. 
 
 HANNS (to LENA). Will they be long? Is it a long 
 ceremony? 
 
 LENA. No: it will take half an hour, or perhaps 
 three quarters. 
 
 HAXNS (to JOHANN). Is it worth while waiting? 
 
 HOWARD, who has been aroused to interest in the 
 group, crosses over and bows ceremoniously. 
 
 HOWARD. Forgive me if 1 break in. Yes, it is worth 
 while waiting. It is a very interesting sight. 
 If you are a stranger in Burgstein and wish to 
 see it in one of its characteristic aspects, wait. 
 You see it is Mid-Lent a special day. I
 
 ACT I. II 
 
 expect there will be high-jinks in the town all 
 day long. And I'm told that you Pathfinders 
 are having a spree late to-night in the forest 
 above the town? 
 
 LENA (abruptly'). How do you know? You are not 
 
 from Burgstein. 
 HOWARD (provocatively, with an amused look}. No, 
 
 but I have been here two days. 
 LENA (haughtily). Two days. You are English, of 
 
 course, or you would not be so conceited. 
 
 HOWARD (laughing). How did you guess? I was 
 beginning to hope that my accent was non- 
 committal. I don't ever expect to speak your 
 language as you do, but I thought I had got 
 rid of the English inflection. 
 
 HANNS (with enthusiasm). Are you really English? 
 How wonderful ! 
 
 HOWARD (laughing). Wonderful! 
 
 HANNS. You are the first Englishman I have ever 
 met. Are they all as good at languages as 
 you? 
 
 HOWARD. I am not good at languages. 
 
 LENA (unrelaxing) . How did you leam? 
 
 HOWARD. I was in love with a German girl. 
 
 THE OTHERS. Ah! 
 
 LENA. And? 
 
 HOWARD. The war came. 
 
 HANNS (impatiently). The war one can never escape 
 the subject.
 
 l* THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD. How old are you? 
 HANNS. Eighteen. 
 
 HOWARD. H'm. You were eleven when the Armistice 
 came. The war can't have been a very real 
 thing to you at that age. 
 
 HANNS. No: it wasn't. It has become almost real 
 since, though, because everybody who is older 
 than twenty-five never speaks without mention- 
 ing it. They seem to be proud of their silly 
 old war. Oh yes, I know quite a lot about 
 it, not because I want to, but because people 
 won't forget it. Are you more than twenty-five? 
 
 HOWARD (with affected lugubriousness). Thirty! 
 
 LENA (feeling herself out of the conversation, turning 
 to go}. Good morning. 
 
 HOWARD (raising his hat). Is it permitted to ask 
 your name? 
 
 LENA. My name is Lena Sachs. 
 
 HOWARD. And you live here in Burgstein? 
 
 LENA. Yes. 
 
 She goes into the church ; as she opens the door 
 there is a slight sound of reverent voices from within. 
 Those on the stage stand silent until the door is 
 closed. 
 
 JOHANN. Come on, Hanns. 
 
 HOWARD (not wishing them to go). Hanns. That 
 is a jolly name. 
 
 HANNS. Do you really like it? That's splendid of 
 you.
 
 ACT I. 13 
 
 JOHANN (impatiently}. Come on, Hanns. 
 
 HOWARD (rather pointedly avoiding Johann}. Your 
 name is Hanns, and hers is Sachs. Hans Sachs. 
 How romantic ! 
 
 HANNS. They were performing one of Hans Sachs' 
 drolleries at a people's theatre in a village we 
 passed through. I did not like it ; it was just 
 coarse clowning, I thought. 
 
 HOWARD. There speaks the true over-cultured twen- 
 tieth century boy! We're not coarse enough 
 nowadays. 
 
 HANNS (with some regret). You don't like coarse- 
 ness, do you? 
 
 HOWARD. No, I suppose I don't ; but I believe 
 it's healthy, nevertheless. I sometimes think 
 we should be happier if we were more open 
 about life had no reserves, no reticences no 
 curtains. Why shouldn't we be frank about the 
 vulgar coarse things which are common to us 
 all? 
 
 JOHANN (observing Hanns' interest in Howard deepen), 
 I shall leave you if you don't come. 
 
 HANNS (looking at liim almost without remarking him.} 
 Very well. 
 
 JOHANN (wounded}. So! 
 
 He is going. HANNS, full of contrition, takes hold 
 of his arm. 
 
 HANNS. Don't be a fool, Johann. There is no hurry. 
 One does not meet an Englishman every day. 
 
 JOHANN. God be thanked!
 
 1 4 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD (smiling). You don't like us? 
 
 JOHANN (shrugging his shoulders'). I take people 
 as I find them English or Dutch or Timbuc- 
 tooish. 
 
 HOWARD (persistently, but good-humouredly) . And 
 I'm not to your liking? 
 
 JOHANN (bursting out). You're too much to his. 
 (Brusquely, to HANNS). Come on! 
 
 HANNS (with a lingering glance allows himself to be 
 drawn away). Goodbye I 
 
 HOWARD. Goodbye I 
 
 HANNS and JOHANN go off left. 
 
 HOWARD stands ruminating after they are gone. Sud- 
 denly coming to himself, he goes Quietly to the steps 
 of the church and, still dreaming, sits on one of them. 
 HANNS runs in. 
 
 HANNS (precipitously). You said you were in love 
 with a German girl and then the war came? 
 
 HOWARD. Yes. 
 HANNS. Is that all? 
 HOWARD. Yes. 
 
 HANNS stands in a state of indecision. Then, with 
 impetuousness , sits down on the step beside HOWARD. 
 
 HANNS. Please don't think me inquisitive. Sometimes 
 I'm like this: not often. Nothing holds me 
 back. I am not inquisitive: I'm interested. 
 Have you come out to Germany to find her? 
 
 HOWARD (after a pause). I thought I had.
 
 ACT I. 15 
 
 HANNS. You thought you had. (There is a pause 
 of understanding}. Thank you. (He rises.) 
 
 HOWARD. You see . . (He thinks the better of his 
 impulse to explain and as an excuse for de- 
 taining HANNS adds, pointing to the lute}. 
 You play that thing? 
 
 HANNS (with boyish enthusiasm}. Yes. Folk-songs. 
 I sing them too. 
 
 HOWARD. You mustn't stay and sing now, of course? 
 HANNS. Johann is waiting. He would be furious. 
 HOWARD. He seems a bit of a tyrant. 
 HANNS. We're old friends since I was at school. 
 
 He taught me history. He's only twenty-nine 
 
 now. Wonderful, isn't it? 
 
 HOWARD (a little impatient}. You think everything's 
 wonderful. 
 
 HANNS (simply}. Not everything. But many things. 
 Life's wonderful, isn't it? I'm only eighteen 
 and I've found that out already. Sometimes things 
 seem so wonderful I can hardly bear it. And 
 there is nearly a lifetime before me, too, for 
 new wonders ! 
 
 HOWARD. When can I hear you play your lute and 
 sing folk-songs? 
 
 HANNS. I don't know. We sha'n't be in Burgstein 
 
 long a couple of days, perhaps. 
 HOWARD. You will not have a chance of seeing this 
 
 church procession again. Why don't you wait? 
 
 It'll be out in about half an hour's time. 
 HANNS. Johann. . .
 
 16 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD. Damn Johannl 
 
 HANNS. "Damn" is English? (HOWARD nods). It 
 is a swear word? 
 
 HOWARD. Yes: an excellent word. Goodbye. Go 
 to your Johann. 
 
 HANNS. You are cross ; and that's idiotic. I can't 
 help it, can I ? I can't desert my friend for 
 the sake of a stranger, can I? 
 
 HOWARD (high-falutiri}. Oh no, of course not. Go 
 to your Johann. / shall wait for the pro- 
 cession to come out. Goodbye. 
 
 HANNS moves some yards away ; pauses and turns 
 back. 
 
 HANNS. You must have been very young when you 
 were in love with that girl? 
 
 HOWARD. I was eighteen. 
 HANNS. My age. 
 
 HOWARD. It seems a very long time ago. You 
 know, during the war we were cut off and I 
 thought very little about her ; but when the 
 war was over I felt somehow that I ought to 
 look her up again. There wasn't much warmth 
 of feeling there ; it was a sort of worked-up 
 desire to make amends. So when the chance 
 to come over here offered itself, I took it. 
 
 HANNS (drolly). I don't see why you should bother 
 so much about the past when There's the pre- 
 sent and the future I 
 
 HOWARD. Excellent philosophy! And how many times 
 have you been in love?
 
 ACT I. 17 
 
 HANNS. Oh, ever so many times 1 (Ticking them 
 off on his fingers}. Once when I was ten 
 that was with Elisabeth! (He laughs}. Once 
 when I was fourteen: that was with a friend 
 at school. And with my mother, who died. 
 
 HOWARD. Nothing like variety! 
 
 HANNS (parenthetically, with a glance off, Left}. Won't 
 old Johann be wild? (Turning again to 
 HOWARD). I could fall in love with any- 
 body, I think up to a certain point, you know ; 
 or anything. Think of trees! And squirrels 
 with their lovely movement ! 
 
 HOWARD (quietly, but provocatively}. Really, of course, 
 you've never been in love. 
 
 HANNS (whimsically}. You mean a "grand pash?" 
 HOWARD. And what's that? 
 
 HANNS (striking a theatrical pose}. A "grand passion" 
 of course. Yes: I've had that too. 
 
 HOWARD. But you're not in love now? 
 
 HANNS. No. 
 
 HOWARD. Oh. Goodbye. 
 
 HANNS. Goodbye. (He goes.} 
 
 HOWARD. Hannsl 
 
 HANNS (coming back}. How dare you call me Hanns? 
 
 HOWARD. What else should I call you? I don't 
 know your other name. 
 
 HANNS. That's true. I have a funny second name 
 Berceau. You see, my father was a French-
 
 1 8 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 man and his mother was Italian and my mother 
 was Russian! 
 
 HOWARD. Then you're not German at all? 
 
 HANNS (gleefully "catching" him). Yes, I am. My 
 father was a naturalised German and I was 
 born here : see ? 
 
 HOWARD. What a sans patrie you are 1 However, 
 I shall call you Harms 1 
 
 HANNS. But calling me Hanns implies that you think 
 I'm a little boy. 
 
 HOWARD. Surely you don't mind being thought that? 
 HANNS. I'm not a little boy. And you're only a boy. 
 
 HOWARD. I'm thirty. English people do refer to 
 young men of thirty as boys sometimes. But 
 it's foolish. I've long since been a full-grown 
 and rather blas6 man. 
 
 HANNS. I'm a man too. 
 
 \ 
 HOWARD. You I (Contemptuously}. You're a mere 
 
 child. 
 
 HANNS (abruptly}. Goodbye, thfen. Why did you call 
 me back? 
 
 HOWARD. I wanted to know where you were staying 
 in Burgstein ; that's all. 
 
 HANNS. The Calf Inn. 
 
 HOWARD. Thank you. Then I may see you again. 
 Goodbye. 
 
 HANNS. Yes, you may ; if you're good . . and Johann 
 lets you.
 
 ACT I. 19 
 
 HANNS laughs and runs off Left. HOWARD, after a 
 faint show of indecision, goes to the Right, and is 
 almost out of sight when he changes his mind, re- 
 turns to the Centre, and again takes up his perch 
 on the low wall Left. While he is doing this, and 
 has his back to the church-door, LENA comes out, 
 find simultaneously JOHANN comes on from the Left. 
 They do not observe HOWARD who by this time is 
 seated on the wall, with his legs crossed, his arms 
 folded, his eyes fixed meditatively on the diagonally 
 opposite corner of the auditorium. LENA pauses un- 
 decidedly for a moment, turning left and then right, 
 and is overtaken by JOHANN. 
 
 JOHANN (curtly}. Excuse me, do you know which way 
 the Englishman went? 
 
 LENA. No ; I left him here long since. I have 
 not seen him again. You want him? 
 
 JOHANN. That is why I came back. (Fiercely). Who 
 is he? 
 
 LENA. I don't know. A tourist, I think. They 
 come here. It is one of the wonders of 
 Bavaria, this fortress town. It is very old, 
 very, very old. They say that parts of it are 
 eight hundred years old. It feels old ; the air 
 hangs heavily here with old, old thoughts of 
 people long-forgotten. 
 
 JOHANN. You speak as if you did not like it. 
 LENA (shrugging). I have lived here all my life. 
 JOHANN. You are not old.
 
 to THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 LENA. I am twenty-five. I feel old. Everybody here 
 is old, even the children. Did you see the 
 procession?. (He shakes his head.) They were 
 all old people, so old that they have ceased to 
 think or feel, and little children so young that 
 they have not begun to think or feel they have 
 brought with them the wisdom of all the cen- 
 turies and as they grow up they shed their 
 wisdom and gather all the traditions of this old, 
 old town. 
 
 JOHANN (interested in spite of himself). There is 
 bitterness in your voice. 
 
 LENA. No'. I am not bitter. But I am not blind. 
 People begin differently. Children have little 
 souls when they come, little souls with char- 
 acters of their own. But they don't keep them. 
 The old people won't let them. They wor- 
 ship the Black Virgin. 
 
 JOHANN. The Black Virgin? 
 
 LENA. Yes. Haven't you seen it? All the good 
 people here have little shrines attached to their 
 houses and you will see a little Black Virgin 
 in each of them. 
 
 JOHANN. I thought it was age and the weather that 
 made them black. 
 
 LENA (quietly, as one imparting guide-bodk inform-, 
 ation). No. They are painted black. 
 
 JOHANN. How queer I Is there any explanation? 
 
 LENA. Yes. It is quite simple. You know, hundreds 
 of years ago they used to burn fires in the 
 churches and had no proper chimneys? Well,
 
 ACT I. *l 
 
 the images became blacked with soot, and as 
 the peasants, when they put up images in their 
 houses or outside their houses, wanted to imitate 
 the Church as closely as possible, they made 
 their Virgins black. That is how it is with 
 us here. We collect habits and customs by 
 mistake or misfortune and then we worship them. 
 
 JOHANN. Who are you? (Then, conscious of the 
 apparent rudeness of the question). I mean, how 
 do you know all this? 
 
 LENA (shrugging}. I read; I talk to visitors; my 
 father is an inn-keeper the Calf. 
 
 JOHANN. We just booked a room there. 
 
 LENA. It is not a bad inn; you will not be cheated . . 
 I see more than most people. I am not a fool. 
 I, also, accumulate ; but I shed, too. I am 
 twenty-five, but I am not yet too old to receive 
 impressions. My mother was an educated 
 
 woman : my father is an illiterate boor with a 
 brain like a ferrit's. My mother came from 
 Vienna: she had culture. 
 
 JOHANN. Why did she marry your father if he is 
 such a boor? 
 
 LENA (unaffectedly}. I am not my father's daughter. 
 It was a bargain. 
 
 JOHANN. Ah. 
 
 LENA (turning to go}. It is strange that I tell you 
 these things. 
 
 JOHANN. I shall respect your confidence.
 
 22 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 LENA (shrugging}. You are here to-day: to-morrow 
 you will be gone. You will forget me in an 
 hour. I shall remember you only as one of a 
 hundred tourists who have come to see this 
 ancient fortress town. 
 
 There is the far-off tinkle of a lute. HOWARD, who 
 has been an unwilling but silent hearer of the fore- 
 going conversation, quietly rises and goes off Left. 
 
 JOHANN. My friend is waiting for me. I hear his 
 lute. 
 
 LENA. He is a nice boy. The Englishman liked 
 him. 
 
 JOHANN (with sudden venom). Yes: I saw it. 
 
 LENA (with a fixed look}. Why did you come back? 
 
 JOHANN. I wanted to speak to the Englishman. 
 
 LENA. What did you want to say to him? ( JOHANN 
 hesitates']. I have spoken to you without sift- 
 ing my words. 
 
 JOHANN. But I am warier. 
 
 LENA (indifferently}. It is as you will. 
 
 JOHANN. You had not seen the stranger before? 
 
 LENA (hesitates a moment before she says}. I have 
 seen him in the town. 
 
 JOHANN. He attracts you? 
 
 LENA {flinging back her head}. Yes. Well? 
 
 JOHANN (grudgingly}. He is attractive. 
 
 LENA. Why do you dislike him? 
 
 JOHANN (quickly}. He is English.
 
 ACT I. 25 
 
 LENA (contemptuously'). That is not a reason: it 
 is an excuse. One does not hate a person one 
 knows because of his nationality. 
 
 JOHANN. True. (The sound of the lute ceases'). I 
 must go. My friend will be impatient. I 
 must see the Englishman another time or better, 
 never. (There is again a faint incoherent tink- 
 ling of the lute, revealing an unskilled player'). 
 That is not Harms 1 
 
 He goes, without a word, nor sign of apology. LENA 
 looks at him in some astonishment, but is too well in 
 control of herself to express much outward constern- 
 ation. 
 
 OLD HEIXRICH SACHS comes out of the church. LENA 
 looks round as the noise from the church reaches her. 
 
 LENA. You have had your fill then? 
 
 SACHS. That I have I Religion's all right for the 
 old and fools. 
 
 LENA. And aren't you old? 
 
 SACHS. Old enough to have learned to scorn your 
 tongue, fair daughter, and not too old to pay 
 you back in your own coin. (He chuckles). 
 Get to your work, child. (LENA'S eyes are 
 suddenly directed to the Left). And keep your 
 eyes for the scouring of your pots and not for 
 the scanning of the river. 
 
 LEX A walks scornfully away to the Left. HOWARD 
 
 comes on: he and she meet. SACHS eyes them up 
 
 and down. 
 
 HOWARD (to LENA). Tell me a better inn than 
 the Crown and Turtle 1
 
 24 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 SACHS. The Calf, young man. 
 
 HOWARD (bowing elaborately}. I thank you. (He 
 turns again to LENA). Do you recommend the 
 Calf? 
 
 LENA. It is as good as another. 
 
 SACHS (thundering}. It is better than another: it is 
 the best in Burgstein, blockhead 1 
 
 HOWARD (insinuatingly}. Perhaps you know the pro- 
 prietor. 
 
 SACHS. That I do, better than I know most men. 
 (He guffaws}. 
 
 HOWARD. Perhaps he owes you money and you think 
 my custom will ensure its payment. 
 
 SACHS. Let your imagination run its course, young 
 man ; you'll reach the truth some day. Pots, 
 Lena, potsl 
 
 LENA goes off Right almost without a sign of re- 
 sentment. 
 
 HOWARD. I assume from your manner of addressing 
 her that that is your daughter. 
 
 SACHS. Yes, God help mel 
 HOWARD. You seem to regret it. 
 
 SACHS. A daughter is ever a trial. She is useless 
 to you until she is of marriageable age and 
 when she is of marriageable age and useful to 
 you, sihe leaves you. 
 
 HOWARD. Your daughter is going to get married? 
 
 SACHS (shrugging}. When the man good enough for 
 her Highness presents himself. S'he is good-
 
 ACT I. 25 
 
 looking and hard to please. Men are afraid 
 of her. She is too virtuous, and men hate a 
 virtuous woman. She has no weaknesses, and 
 . men hate a strong woman. She thinks above 
 the heads of the townsfolk and the people who 
 stay at the inn stay for a few days only and 
 then go. 
 
 HOWARD (feigning bewilderment). The inn? 
 
 SACHS (chuckling heartily). To be sure. My inn. 
 The Calf, where you are going to put up for 
 to-night ! Ha, ha, ha I They call me the fox I 
 
 HOWARD. And rightly. But never mind. One inn 
 is as good as another. I'll have my belongings 
 removed to yours. 
 
 SACHS. And how long will you be staying in Burg- 
 stein ? 
 
 HOWARD. That depends upon circumstances. Have 
 you many guests? 
 
 SACHS (fencing). A goodly few, a goodly few. They 
 come and go. Here to-day gone to-morrow. 
 Water on a hot stone I Pst I 
 
 HOWARD (pumping him). Interesting people perhaps? 
 
 SACHS (impressively). Very. To-day, for instance, 
 a professor and a student. To look at, nothing ! 
 But brains I The professor less than thirty years 
 of age and full of all the book-learning of the 
 greatest sages I Wonderful I Colossal 1 And 
 the student, brilliant I Plays the lute like a 
 troubadour: you'd imagine the gates of Heaven 
 were opened and that you were listening to
 
 26 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 fhe angelic choir. (His eyes roll). Wonder- 
 full 
 
 There is a sound of raised voices off Left,: H ANNS' 
 laughing and protesting \ JOH ANN'S intense and humour- 
 less. HOWARD and SACHS pause in their talk. SACHS 
 turns to the Left. 
 
 SACHS. Here come my guests. Not saying their 
 prayers, it seems. (HOWARD turns'). 
 
 HOWARD. Let us go. 4 They would not like us to 
 overhear. 
 
 SACHS. Why not? What's done in public, is meant 
 for the public. It may be fun. 
 
 HANNS and JOHANN enter, the former first, his lute 
 held firmly under his left arm, his right holding 
 JOHANN off: he is laughing, but there is a trace of 
 seriousness in his demeanour. JOHANN, wholly serious, 
 glowers upon him. 
 
 HANNS. Go away ; I don't want you. I'm tired of 
 you. I will not have a master out of school. 
 I'm free. 
 
 JOHANN. You're a flyaway, a feather, a bit of thistle- 
 down ready to be blown away by the least puff 
 of wind that comes. I won't let you go away 
 like this. You'll regret it. 
 
 HANNS (boyishly indignant). Regret it? I like that. 
 You're too swell-headed my good Johann. You 
 must cure yourself of that or I shall never 
 come back to you. 
 
 HOWARD and SACHS feel now that the squabble has 
 become sufficiently public for them to observe it.
 
 ACT I. *7 
 
 SACHS. Tsl Ts! Boys! 
 
 HANNS (appealing to HOWARD). Here! Tell Johann 
 that he is an overbearing, conceited, stuff ed-up, 
 prize pig! 
 
 JOHANN (with a swift piercing cry that silences the 
 others and leaves an expectant empty ness'). I 
 will kill him if he interferes. 
 
 HOWARD (after a pause}. That is a foolish thing to 
 
 say. 
 
 JOHANN (sullenly). One does not choose one's words 
 at such times. 
 
 HOWARD. Such times as what? 
 
 HANNS (impetuously). It is like this . . . 
 
 JOHANN (threatening). I forbid you to tell him. 
 
 HANNS (with a trace of nervousness). Then I shall. 
 
 (He -turns to HOWARD, grasping his arm). 
 
 Johann thinks that because he and I have 
 been . . . 
 
 As soon as HANNS starts to spedk JOHANN, in a blind 
 fury, rushes at him, his stick raised. HOWARD taken 
 aback attempts to intercept the blow which falls on 
 HANNS' head, somewhat broken in its force by 
 HOWARD'S action. HANNS falls to the ground with 
 hardly a groan. SACHS, crying " Help\ " is about 
 to rush off, but HOWARD restrains him. JOHANN re- 
 coils in horror from the result of his own act ; says 
 nothing. 
 
 HOWARD (to SACHS). Be silent, you fool. Let us see 
 what the damage is.
 
 28 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD has stooped beside the stunned boy, whose 
 head he raises to his knee. He speaks with calm 
 peremptoriness . 
 
 HOWARD. Fetch some cold water ; and do not make 
 
 any unnecessary fuss. 
 
 SACHS, awed by the author itativeness of HOWARD'S 
 manner, goes out Right. JOHANN is still dazed, 
 motionless. Presently he groans. HOWARD turns to 
 him. 
 
 HOWARD. Chafe his hands. 
 JOHANN (falling to his knees']. My boy, my boy I 
 
 (He takes H ANNS' hands one after the other, 
 
 cha/es them). 
 
 HOWARD. What a time the old man is I Why did 
 you do it? 
 
 JOHANN (sobbing}. I loved him. 
 
 HOWARD (quietly}. It is the love that leads to 
 destruction. You are a fool. 
 
 JOHANN. I know. 
 
 HOWARD. It is well that you know. Suppose you 
 have seriously injured him? 
 
 JOHANN. I shall kill myself. 
 
 HOWARD (not sparing him). If I had not broken 
 the worst of the blow he would be dead. 
 
 JOHANN (sobbing broken-heartedly} . I meant to kill 
 
 him. 
 
 HOWARD. Why, in God's name? 
 JOHANN. Because I loved him. 
 HOWARD. It is madness.
 
 ACT I. 29 
 
 JOHANN. Love is madness. 
 LENA comes on with water. 
 
 LENA (quietly}. I have heard. Here I (She hands 
 HOWARD the water. He takes it and bathes 
 HANNS' head.} You are to bring him to the 
 inn. Father is arranging for him. (She stoops 
 down beside HANNS.) Poor boy! He is very 
 white except for that ugly red bump. ( JOHANN 
 sobs. LENA looks at him, searchingly: he 
 shrinks.} You might have killed him. Per- 
 haps he is dead. 
 
 A MAN comes out of the church and is passing on 
 when he sees the little group and comes back. 
 
 MAN. Hoi What's this? 
 
 HOWARD. Go your way: it is nothing to hang around 
 for. 
 
 MAN. Good morning, Miss Sachs. 
 LENA. Good morning. 
 MAN. The boy is ill? 
 
 LENA. Yes. Come here, Mr. Bauer. We will take 
 him to the inn. (She turns to HOWARD to 
 give orders}. You take his head and Mr. 
 Bauer will take his feet. Between you, you 
 can carry so slight a boy. 
 
 They obey her. JOHANN, as in a dream, relinquishes 
 the hands he has been chafing, and stands as they 
 leave him, not changing his attitude. LENA follows the 
 bearers part of the way and then, on a sudden im- 
 pulse, returns to JOHANN.
 
 30 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 JOHANN (breaking out at last}. You understand, don't 
 you? I did mean to kill him; but I was 
 mad, mad, mad mad with love and jealousy 
 and could not restrain myself. You believe 
 me ? I love him ; he is my only treasure the 
 only reason for rny life. I have no parents, 
 no wife, no children, no girl. I must have 
 him. I can't pass through life without him. 
 I saw him going. . . I saw . . . Oh! you do 
 understand, don't you? You don't condemn me? 
 
 LENA (with no softening, nor hardening of her voice}. 
 I am not sure that I understand: your reasons 
 are not my concern. I believe you without 
 understanding. 
 
 JOHANN. If you did not understand you would not 
 believe. You are a wonderful woman. Thank 
 you. 
 
 LENA. I am not a wonderful woman. Listen. If 
 you have killed him (JOHANN shrinks back with 
 a moan) I don't say you have: if you have, 
 you will be executed. There are no extenu- 
 ating circumstances. You will have killed him 
 without provocation. Your life will be de- 
 manded for his. You understand? (JOHANN 
 nods dully). The forest up above Burgstein 
 is thick ; one* hiding there would not be readily 
 found. Disguise is simple for men. A change 
 of clothing and a growing of the beard ; a 
 cutting of the hair. It is enough. I have 
 little money, but I could let you have some if 
 you wrote to me: Lena Sachs, the Calf Inn. . 
 My father cannot read.
 
 ACT I. 31 
 
 JOHANN. But why do you . . . ? 
 
 LENA. Do not ask why. There is no reason. 
 
 JOHANN. Women do this sort of thing only when 
 
 they love. 
 LENA. I love. 
 JOHANN. You do not love me? (It is a statement 
 
 rather than a question). 
 
 LENA (emphatically, but quietly}. No. I do not. 
 JOHANN (wondering}. Then why . . ? 
 LENA. I have said there is no reason. There is 
 
 an instinct. Go I 
 JOHANN. But . . . ? 
 
 LENA turns away abruptly and goes out. JOHANN stands 
 where she leaves him for some seconds. Then he turns 
 Leftward, as if to go away ; turns Right, questioningly, 
 and takes several impetuous steps in that direction ; 
 hesitates again his attention is attracted by some- 
 thing in the not-far distance. An embodied indecision, 
 he is already turning Leftward again and with a cry 
 from the heart, flees. 
 
 For a few seconds the stage is deserted. BERGENROTH 
 comes in from the Left ; he is looking over his 
 shoulder, presumably at the fugitive JOHANN ; with a 
 supercilious look he passes off, Right. 
 The Church-door opens. The VERGER emerges and 
 fastens back the doors. There is the sound of shuff- 
 ling feet, and then the slow droning of the organ ; 
 one becomes aware of the gradual approach from the 
 darkness of the church's interior of a procession, which 
 begins to emerge as OLD SACHS, breathless with 
 running, comes on from the Right. He goes hurriedly
 
 32 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 to the VERGER, who is inclined to be shocked by 
 his irreverent disregard of the precincts of the church. 
 SACHS (blurting out). A man in knickers mincing 
 
 creature have you seen him? 
 
 VERGER. I beg youl God's will! Be calm I The 
 sacred procession is coming. Wait, I beg you. 
 SACHS. Wait, when it's murder? 
 
 VERGER. If it is murder, then the last word has 
 been said. (He crosses himself). The victim 
 is, by the virtue of our Blessed Lord, in the 
 bosom of God. 
 
 SACHS (calmed in spile of himself). And the mur- 
 derer? 
 
 VERGER. Is in God's hands. 
 
 SACHS (muttering). And may He hold him tight I 
 Two small boys, in red cassocks and white-belaced 
 surplices, both carrying candles, now emerge from the 
 church-door ; four portly middle-aged men, dressed in 
 humble ill-fitting broad-cloth, follow, playing trumpet- 
 music ; behind them come two more acolytes, one 
 carrying a censer, the other a Sanctus-bell ; behind 
 them follow a number of old women in black, telling 
 their beads and muttering aloud between the strophes 
 of the music. SACHS, in dudgeon,, hurries off, Left. 
 
 CURTAIN.
 
 ACT II. 33 
 
 ACT II. 
 THE LIVING ROOM AT THE CALF INN. 
 
 Evening of the same day. 
 
 // is an old-fashioned room, with dark beams, a wide 
 open grate Left, and sombre furniture. There is a 
 window in the background, somewhat to the Left. A 
 door, also in the background, Right, leads to the street ; 
 another, in the Left wall, leads to the bar of the Inn. 
 There are touches of warm colour here and there, 
 brass and copper. The lamp is lit and as the day 
 fades becomes the only light on the stage, which is 
 suffused in its warm glow. There are darknesses 
 into which persons coming and going are caught in 
 passing. 
 
 HANNS, with a blanket over his knees, is seated in 
 an armchair Left of fireplace. He looks pale, but 
 not very ill. LENA is sewing. 
 
 HANNS. Please may I say just what I like. 
 LENA. You will whether I let you or not. 
 
 HANNS. How quickly you have got to know me I 
 Johann always says that. I suppose it's true. 
 I'm a great deceiver. I pretend I'm humble 
 and shy: really, I suppose, I'm very arrogant 
 and very pushing? 
 
 LENA (whimsically). You won't always get your own 
 way. You're a queer boy so old for your 
 eighteen years and yet such a child I Well, 
 what did you want to say? 
 
 HANNS (after a brief pause, hastily). You know how 
 beautiful you are?
 
 34 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 LENA. Men say so. 
 
 HANNS. And how good? 
 
 LENA. I don't know what " good " is. 
 
 HANNS (with thoughtful deliberateness). Good is doing 
 the kind thing for the sake of being kind and 
 for no other reason. You are kind to me: 
 why? Because you like being kind. You are 
 wonderful 1 
 
 LENA (quietly laughing). Silly boy I You will never 
 know why I am kind to you. 
 
 HANNS (hurt). Am I not right then? 
 
 LENA (getting up and going to him). Of course not. 
 You are a good boy; I like you; I should not 
 wish to be unkind to you. But I am looking 
 after you now being kind to you as you put 
 it for a reason which is purely selfish. 
 
 HANNS (knowingly). That is only a way of brushing 
 aside my gratitude. You can't deceive me, 
 although I'm only eighteen. 
 
 LENA (quietly). You will believe what you wish to 
 believe no matter what I say. Don't think so 
 much. Go to sleep. You are not strong yet. 
 If you don't stop talking (a knock) I shall 
 make you go to bed. Come inl 
 
 HANNS (with a trace of excitement). You wouldn't 
 dare to until he has been I 
 
 LENA (disingenuously). Who? 
 
 FRANZ BERGENROTH comes in from Right and stands 
 
 just inside. 
 
 HANNS. The Englishman, of course.
 
 ACT II. 35 
 
 LENA (lightly). You are crazy about the Englishman! 
 Good evening, Mr. Bergenroth: did you want 
 me? 
 
 BERGENROTH (ungraciously). Who is this? 
 
 LENA (rising and presenting them to each other}. 
 
 Mr. Franz Bergenroth Mr. . . . (to HANNS). 
 
 What is your name? I have forgotten, if I 
 
 knew. Hanns . . . ? 
 
 HANNS. Hanns Berceau. How do you do? (The 
 men bow.} 
 
 BERGENROTH. I expected to find you alone. (LENA 
 says nothing). (To HANNS). You are ill? 
 
 HANNS. I had an accident. I hurt my head. 
 
 BERGENROTH. You look very ill: you ought to be 
 
 in bed. 
 LENA (looking first at HANNS, then at BERGENROTH). 
 
 No: he has but recently got up. He will go 
 
 to bed soon. 
 
 BERGENROTH. How soon? 
 
 LENA. I don't know. We shall see. You wanted me? 
 BERGENROTH (low-voiced). Yes. I can't speak with 
 
 that boy here. 
 LENA (lightly). Call again to-morrow. (BERGENROTH 
 
 squirms). 
 
 HANNS. May I have my lute, please? 
 LENA (fetching it). Here. 
 
 HANNS takes the lute he tunes it and during the 
 ensuing dialogue plays quietly. 
 BERGENROTH (observing HANNS' preoccupation with 
 
 his lute). Who is he?
 
 36 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 LENA. A guest. 
 
 BERGENROTH How did he meet with the accident? 
 LENA (hesitating). It was a blow. 
 BERGENROTH Who struck it? 
 
 LENA. A man you don't know. A stranger to Burg- 
 stein. 
 
 BERGENROTH. Where is he now? 
 LENA. I don't know. 
 BERGENROTH. Wasn't he caught? 
 LENA. No. 
 
 BERGENROTH Did nobody see him strike the blow? 
 LENA. Yes ; but they let him go. 
 BERGENROTH. Incredible! 
 LENA. But true. 
 BERGENROTH. Old Sachs, your father, wasn't about, I 
 
 swear. 
 
 LENA. He was. 
 
 BERGENROTH. And he let the brute go? 
 LENA. He didn't realise he was going to escape. 
 
 When he did, he was furious. 
 BERGENROTH. So I should think. And what did 
 
 he do? 
 LENA. Oh, he ran off in the direction the man went ; 
 
 but he'd had a long start. My father came 
 
 back more furious than ever. 
 The lute-music ceases. HANNS is asleep. 
 BERGENROTH What had the boy done? He looks 
 
 innocent enough. 
 LENA. Oh, why do you think / know?
 
 ACT II. 37 
 
 BERGENROTH (low-voiced). You know everything. 
 
 LENA. Ha! 
 
 BERGENROTH. You laugh ; but it's God's truth. Why 
 
 did the man strike him? 
 LENA. Because he was jealous. 
 BERGENROTH. Jealous of a child like that? (fie 
 
 looks more closely at HANNS.) Who was the 
 
 girl? (Suddenly). Not you? 
 
 LENA (turning away). I think I have answered enough 
 questions. Will you now answer mine? Why 
 have you come? 
 
 BERGENROTH (in a fierce low voice). You know well. 
 
 LENA. I asJc you. 
 
 BERGENROTH. I have come to tell you what I have 
 striven to keep concealed. (With passion). I 
 love you, love you. (ffe half-approaches her, 
 but although she makes no movement of her 
 arms, there is something in her look which 
 keeps him at bay.) 
 
 LENA. I know. I am sorry. 
 
 BERGENROTH. I knew you knew. You know every- 
 thing: I have said it. You are a strange quiet 
 woman, silently breaking men's hearts. (There 
 is a note of subdued hysteria in his voice.) 
 What can I do? What can I do? I see you 
 do not love me ; I see you wish me to go, and 
 because I love you I shall go. But I am 
 broken ; there is nothing vital left in me. 
 My heart was wild with desire two minutes ago: 
 I wanted you so madly, wanted to crus'h you 
 against me ; but now I am suddenly numbed,
 
 38 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 because I see the coldness of your eyes and 
 see that your heart does not beat the faster 
 for my presence. (He continues after a pause 
 in the same quiet, almost whimpering hysteria}. 
 Oh, Lena, Lena, you are not human: you are a 
 frozen image of allurement, unable to respond 
 to the passion you create. 
 
 LENA (restrained to breaking-point}. I am sorry. You 
 do not understand me. 
 
 BERGENROTH. Does anybody understand you? 
 LENA. No, nobody. 
 
 BERGENROTH. The man who understands you will 
 win you. 
 
 HOWARD'S VOICE OUTSIDE. May I come in? 
 
 LENA'S eyes immediately light up. BERGENROTH re- 
 marks the change in her. 
 BERGENROTH (with intense jealous biting utterance}. 
 
 Who is that? 
 LENA (turning round on him in a sudden fury}. What 
 
 is that to do with you? 
 
 Amazed by the suddenness of her change, BERGENROTH 
 almost cringes away from her ; the movement brings 
 him to the mantelpiece, against which he leans in the 
 gathering darkness, unremarked for a time. 
 HOWARD (coming in}. How's the boy? 
 LENA (now subdued}. He is sleeping. 
 
 LENA and HOWARD go to HANNS and look down on 
 him in silence for a moment. The pause is emotional: 
 LENA blinks as she turns. 
 LENA. He is still weak.
 
 ACT II. 39 
 
 HOWARD (almost involuntarily}. God, 'how innocent 
 he looks 1 (He pulls himself together, almost 
 sheepishly}. You are good. He is fortunate 
 to have fallen into such hands. 
 
 LENA takes her old seat, and picks up the needlework. 
 LENA. I am only human. 
 
 HOWARD (sitting on the edge of the table}. His 
 friend has not been seen again? 
 
 LENA. No. 
 
 HOWARD. No doubt he thinks he killed the boy, so 
 made good his escape. Poor beggar! 
 
 LENA. You mean the friend? 
 
 HOWARD. Yes of course. (Pause}. 
 
 LENA. You are leaving Burgstein to-morrow? 
 
 HANNS (in a far-away voice}. No, he mustn't. 
 
 HOWARD and LENA look at HANNS: he apparently 
 
 still sleeps. 
 
 HOWARD. What's that? (He goes to HANNS). He 
 was speaking in his sleep. 
 
 LENA. It is strange. (HOWARD, on tiptoe, is re- 
 turning to the table}. Are you sure he is 
 asleep? 
 
 HOWARD (going back to the sleeping boy}. Surely. . . 
 he would not feign sleep. 
 
 LENA. A joke. . . He is full of fun. 
 
 HOWARD (leaning over HANNS: decidedly}. He is 
 asleep. 
 
 LENA (joining HOW T ARD). It is strange. (She speaks 
 in a subdued voice and unconsciously puts her
 
 40 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 left fist to her bosom}. I am twenty-five: he 
 is eighteen ; and yet I am his mother. 
 
 HOWARD. I don't understand you. 
 
 LENA (difficultly}. It is .a yearning . . (Her hands 
 go out slightly before her , the fingers of the 
 up-turned palms curling as if to draw in} . . . 
 a tenderness: I would protect him. He is 
 eighteen almost a man: I am twenty-five, still 
 a girl. But I am his mother. I want to 
 draw him to me, I want to suckle him. 
 
 HOWARD (awed}. That is love. 
 
 LENA. It is love ; but it is not love as women love 
 men. It is not passion. 
 
 HOWARD (groping). You would not wish to marry 
 him? 
 
 LENA (with a gesture which dismisses the thought}. 
 You do not understand. 
 
 HOWARD (on a slight note of complaint}. You are 
 not easy to understand. 
 
 BERGENROTH. / told her that ten minutes ago. 
 
 The others start. 
 
 LENA. I had forgotten you were there. 
 
 HOWARD. I had not seen you. 
 
 BERGENROTH. I have said it : The man who under- 
 stands you will win you. 
 
 HOWARD. You assume she is to be won? 
 
 BERGENROTH (with an ugly laugh). All women are 
 to be won at a price. Hers is understanding. 
 
 LENA (to HOWARD). You are going to-morrow? 
 
 HOWARD. How can I? (His eyes go to HANNS.)
 
 ACT II. 41 
 
 LENA. / am here. He does not need you. 
 
 HOWARD. No. It is conceit on my part. (Diffi- 
 dently}. Perhaps I need him. I can't leave 
 him yet. My plans are fluid. I can stay 
 longer if I wish. I never know when I may 
 receive news recalling me to England ; but 
 until that happens I am my own master. I 
 shall stay here for a time at any rate. 
 
 BERGENROTH. What is there so attractive about the 
 boy? (He stares at the sleeping HANNS). A 
 good-looking boy ; but there are heaps of such 
 about I I see nothing special. Sentimentality 1 
 
 OLD SACHS enters from Left. 
 
 SACHS. Ho, the girl entertains! You will find many 
 . a man waiting for your ogling in the bar- 
 parlour, girl. Frieda has gone for her rest; 
 it's your turn to work now. 
 
 LENA. I will come presently. 
 
 SACHS. And why not now? 
 
 LENA. Because I must see the boy safely to bed. 
 
 SACHS (inimical}. It seems to me you concern your- 
 self too much with the boy. W'ho is he? 
 Who are his parents, and why haven't you sent 
 for them? We are likely to be out of pocket 
 by this Samaritan act. 
 
 HOWARD. I will see that you don't suffer in that 
 way. 
 
 SACHS (only half-appeased}. You are equally a 
 stranger. (He turns to LENA). Get him to 
 bed, then, and then go you to the bar I
 
 4* THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 He goes out, Left, disgruntled. LENA and HOWARD 
 turn to each other. BERGENROTH is about to follow 
 SACHS, when something arrests his attention. He 
 turns to the window. 
 
 LENA (to HOWARD). Will you help me? I think 
 we can carry him. 
 
 HOWARD (removing the lute from HANNS' neck). Yes. 
 (HANNS awakes.} Hallo, old chapl You've 
 had a good sleep. 
 
 HANNS (yawning}. Have I been alseep here? How 
 funny ! Was that Johann ? 
 
 During the last two speeches BERGENROTH has reached 
 the window, where the face of JOHANN peering in can 
 be faintly discerned. With a surreptitious look at 
 the others, BERGENROTH goes out. Right. 
 
 HOWARD. Johann. . . ? Oh, you mustn't worry about 
 him. 
 
 HANNS (waking more fully}. Oh, of course. Silly 
 Johann. I suppose he'll come back when he's 
 got over his temper. But I am a teasel 
 What are you going to do with me now? 
 
 LENA. We are going to carry you up to bed. 
 
 HANNS (indignantly}. Carry me! I can walk as 
 well as you can. (He gets 'to his feet and 
 takes a step forward ; he is. giddy, raises his 
 hand to his forehead}. Lord I What a whack 
 Johann must have given me for the effect to 
 last all this time I 
 
 HOWARD. Love hits hard. 
 HANNS (pouting}. Love!
 
 ACT II. 43 
 
 HOWARD. So you see you can't be independent after 
 
 all, for all your boasting. 
 HANNS. You are a rotter! I've a good mind not 
 
 to let you help me. 
 
 He, however, puts his arm over HOWARD'S shoulder 
 and lakes LENA'S arm ; and during the next lew 
 sentences (hey go off , Left. 
 HANNS. Have you written to my guardian? I hope 
 
 not. 
 LENA. No, not yet. I shan't unless you take a 
 
 turn for the worse. I told you I shouldn't. 
 
 Don't be such a worry. 
 HANNS. You are a pair of bullies I 
 HOWARD. Children have to be kept in their places. 
 By this time they have almost reached the door ; their 
 backs are to the Right door, which slowly opens ; 
 BERGENROTH comes in, preceding JOHANN. HANNS 
 draws in a sltarp breath indicating a sudden twinge 
 of pain. HOWARD, involuntarily, turns with great 
 tenderness to him. 
 HOWARD. My dear boy! 
 HANNS. It's nothing. It's gone. 
 
 JOHANN with an expression of distraction and jealous 
 rage, is about to cry out, but BERGENROTH cynically 
 claps his hand over JOHANN 'S mouth and pushes him 
 back, so that the open door acts as a screen between 
 them and the left of the stage. HANNS, LENA and 
 HOWARD go out. BERGENROTH and JOHANN come in. 
 The latter goes stealthily to the door Left and closes 
 it. He turns round to JOHANN. 
 BERGENROTH. You see?
 
 44 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 JOHANN. Yes; I see that the swine has stolen my 
 friend. (He leans against the table and his 
 arms stretched taut at his side terminate in 
 fists which open and shut convulsively}. 
 
 BERGENROTH. What are you going to do? 
 
 JOHANN (snapping}. I don't know. What can I do? 
 You drag me in to see this ! Why ? You had 
 a purpose. You're not a good man. I'm a 
 cute enough judge of character to read you. 
 You are burning wit'h bad passions yourself, or 
 you wouldn't have detected mine. 
 
 BERGENROTH (cooler as JOHANN becomes more heated.} 
 You are not polite. 
 
 JOHANN. No, nor intend to be. I know my thoughts 
 are evil, and I've the grace to be ashamed of 
 them. You revel in yours. 
 
 BERGENROTH (sarcastically}. You are a pastor? Not 
 big enough for Luther's shoes, I'm afraid. 
 
 JOHANN. Say what your plan is. Don't beat about 
 the bush. And why do you offer to help me? 
 What do you expect to get out of it? Money? 
 because I have none. 
 
 BERGENROTH. I'm not concerned with your financial 
 affairs. That man has gone off with your 
 friend . . . 
 
 JOHANN (breaking out}. I hate him. . . 
 
 BERGENROTH (smoothing him down}. Yes, precisely. 
 So do I . 
 
 JOHANN (snapping}. Why? 
 BERGENROTH. That is not your concern.
 
 ACT II. 45 
 
 JOHANN. How do I know you are sincere? even 
 in this? Why do you hate him? I am not a 
 fool : I want reasons for your magnanimous 
 offer of help. 
 
 BERGENROTH (inspired with an idea}. He is English. 
 
 JOHANN (laughing}. How simple you think me I This 
 very day I gave that as a reason for disliking 
 him, and I was lying. You are lying. 
 
 BERGENROTH (coming nearer}. I see it is no use 
 dissembling. You hate him because you are 
 jealous. I hate him for the same reason. 
 
 JOHANN. You are in love with that girl? 
 
 BERGENROTH. Yes. Shall I say I was? 
 
 JOHANN. If you are not still why should you mind? 
 
 BERGENROTH. It is difficult to go on loving an ice- 
 berg ; but it is not difficult to hate a man who 
 turns the iceberg into a palpitating woman. 
 
 JOHANN (awed}. What is the secret of his power? 
 
 BERGENROTH. I don't know ; don't care. If I can't 
 have her, nor shall he. 
 
 JOHANN (in whom there is an unhealthy excitement}. 
 Splendid. That's the right spirit. Now come 
 on. Let's hatch the scheme that shall bring 
 about his undoing. Ha ! I like this. This 
 is dealing unrepentantly in evil. I've been a 
 dabbler hitherto : committed small sins and been 
 ashamed of them. This is a splendid change. 
 Well, what's your scheme? 
 
 BERGENROTH (half-suspicious}. I haven't a scheme, 
 you fool ; we've got to invent one. 
 
 7 here is a stirring of feet, Left.
 
 4.6 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 JOHANN (somewhat startled}. Isn't it playing with 
 edged tools to scheme the destruction of the 
 enemy in the enemy's own domicile? (He 
 laughs. He turns as if to go). 
 
 BERGENROTH. No: You must not leave here with 
 me. I don't want to be seen with you. We 
 must meet somewhere else. 
 
 JOHANN. Where, then? 
 
 BERGENROTH (after a moment's pause). Up beyond 
 the fortress the forest starts ; enter the forest 
 at the first opening, walk straight on for five 
 minutes and you will come to a clearing ; you 
 will recognise it by the shrine on the tree. 
 I'll be there in half an hour from now: wait 
 for me. ( JOHANN stands motionless for a 
 second: BERGEXROTH stares at him impatiently}. 
 Well, what's the matter? Go on. Do you 
 understand? 
 
 The faint tinkle of the lute in a room above is heard. 
 
 JOHANN (hoarsely}. What is that? 
 
 BBRGENROTH. What's what, you fool? 
 
 JOHANN. Music. . . 
 
 BERGENROTH. It's that fool strumming on the boy's 
 lute, I expect. 
 
 JOHANN (with renewed determination, an agonised ex- 
 pression in his eyes}. In half an hour, then. 
 (He. goes out}. 
 
 BERGENROTH nonchalantly takes a pipe from his pocket 
 
 and commences to fill it. ; there is the constant 
 
 movement of steps outside. He goes toward the 
 
 door Left as SACHS comes in.
 
 ACT II. 47 
 
 SACHS. Still here, Mr. Bergenroth? And where is 
 that precious daughter of mine? Not yet 
 
 returned from coddling that boy? 
 
 SACHS is a very little tipsy. 
 
 BERGENROTH. He's taken a great fancy to her. 
 
 SACHS. The boy has? Not a bit of it! 
 
 BERGENROTH. You mean the Englishman has? 
 
 SACHS. That I would not say. 
 
 BERGENROTH. She has to him, perhaps? 
 
 SACHS (slyly non-committal). That may be. Girls 
 are queer ; and she's queerer than most girls. 
 I thought you were in love with the girl? 
 
 BERGENROTH (shrugging). Me? 
 
 SACHS. You were. 
 
 BERGENROTH. Was isn't is. 
 
 SACHS. Marriage is the only cure for love. If you 
 were in love with her, you are. You can put 
 salt into soup, but you can't take it out. 
 
 BERGENROTH (indulgently). You're a wiseacre, you 
 are ! Well, if you like, I am in love with the 
 girl ; but she's not in love with me, .so that's 
 an end. 
 
 SACHS. When I was a young man, that would have 
 been a beginning. 
 
 BERGENROTH. That's the right way after all, I 
 suppose. I'll get her yet. 
 
 SACHS. And my permission? 
 
 BERGENROTH (coolly). I'm a steady man. Thirty- 
 three years of age. Healthy. Got all my 
 faculties ; and a comfortable bit of money put
 
 48 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 by. My farm's a thriving concern. Will I 
 do? 
 
 SACHS (thumping him on the back}. Go in and 
 win, my boy, and may God have mercy on 
 your soul and give you the patience of Father 
 Job, for He knows you'll need it with a girl 
 like that. 
 
 BERGENROTH. I'm willing to risk the girl if I can 
 get her. (He throws off the easy tone of 
 banter}. I'm a man who generally gets his 
 own way. You recollect the piece of land ad- 
 joining my farm, that belonged to Mr. Pieters? 
 I offered him a fair price for it: I wanted it. 
 He refused my bid. I offered him more, and 
 he still refused, thinking I would offer more. 
 But no ; that's not my way. I poisoned that 
 bit of land for him. Nothing would grow. 
 He planted oats, he planted wheat, he planted 
 barley. He even put it under hay. Nothing 
 grew. Two years later he came and offered 
 me that bit of land at half the price I offered 
 him for it, and now it belongs to me. 
 
 SACHS (laughing and shaking his head}. That was a 
 dirty trick ! 
 
 BERGENROTH. It was fair competition, legitimate re- 
 venge. 
 
 SACHS. And what grows on the land to-day? 
 
 BERGENROTH. Nothing. 
 
 SACHS. So what have you got out of it? 
 
 BERGENROTH. The satisfaction of having worsted old 
 Pieters. In time the soil will recover.
 
 ACT II. 49 
 
 SACHS (chuckling). And then, after a year or two, 
 somebody else will come along and poison itl 
 
 LENA comes in. 
 
 SACHS (with laboured sarcasm). Is this really my 
 daughter come to attend to her duties? 
 
 LENA (unbending). The boy is not so well. 
 
 SACHS. The boy, the boy. ... It is always " the 
 boy." 
 
 LENA. I have left the Englishman with him; but 
 we must send for the doctor. We must not 
 take the responsibility. 
 
 SACHS. Is he feverish? 
 
 LENA. Yes. He was not before; he was much better. 
 
 But suddenly, while we were upstairs talking, 
 
 he said: "The house is full of evil: I can't 
 
 bear it." 
 SACHS (furious). God confound the boy! Full of evil 
 
 indeed 1 My house! The most respectable 
 
 inn in the country! 
 
 LENA. The boy was delirious. He didn't know what 
 he was saying. (She turns to BERGENROTH). 
 Will you please go for the doctor? 
 
 BERGENROTH (effusively). Of course your command 
 is my pleasure. 
 
 LENA (unresponsively) . Thank you. Say it is urgent. 
 
 HOWARD comes in hurriedly as BERGENROTH is going: 
 the latter arrests his departure. 
 
 HOWARD. He calls all the time for Johann. 
 LENA (helplessly). What can we do?
 
 5o THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD. Is there no means of finding him? I 
 could go and search for him. 
 
 SACHS. Don't be a ninny, man! What is the chance 
 of finding him? He's had half a day's start: 
 he'll be well into Austria ere this, with the 
 voice of Abel crying out at him from every 
 tree-trunk. (He chuckles}. 
 
 HOWARD. It does seem hopeless, and yet it is im- 
 possible to sit and do nothing while Hanns 
 calls out constantly for " Johann, Johann," as 
 if his heart would break. I shall go, and risk 
 it. I'll tell him; the mere thought of my 
 going will pacify him perhaps. 
 
 He turns to go out Left, but he is held up by the 
 opening of the door and the appearance of HANNS in 
 $y jamas. He looks very white, but quite calm and 
 un feverish. 
 
 HOWARD (distressed}. Good God, boy: what on earth 
 have you come down for? 
 
 HANNS. Sh! You are too excitable Mr. English- 
 man. Where is Johann? 
 
 HOWARD. I am going to try and find him. 
 HANNS. He was here half an hour ago. 
 
 LENA (going to him tenderly). My dear boy, you 
 are mistaken. 
 
 HANNS (quietly keeping her off}. No, I am not 
 mistaken. I have known Johann many years: 
 we are great friends. I know he was here 
 while I was upstairs. I felt his presence. 
 (He turns suddenly to BERGENROTH). Was he
 
 ACT II. 51 
 
 not here? (Startled, BERGENROTH stammers', 
 
 pulls himself together'). 
 BERGENROTH. No! 
 
 H ANN'S (raising his eyebrows, boyishly). What a fib! 
 LENA. My dear, you mustn't! 
 
 But HOWARD looks at BERGENROTH suspiciously so that 
 
 the latter turns away uneasily. 
 
 HOWARD. You say he was not here? 
 
 BERGENROTH. Yes, I did say so, confound you! 
 Who are you? 
 
 HOWARD shrugs his shoulders and turns away. 
 
 SACHS. Here, get the boy up to bed again, daughter ; 
 and meantime, like the good-natured old fool 
 you imagine I am, I'll take on your duty 
 in the bar. (He goes out, with the lurching 
 gait of self -approval). 
 
 HOWARD (to HANNS). Here, old chap, you must go 
 back to bed, and I'll find Johann for you. 
 
 HANNS (clinging to HOWARD). You see, my dear 
 good new friend, I must tell Johann that I still 
 love him that I didn't mind his striking me 
 that I understood. He is so unhappy: I can 
 feel his heart aching in my own breast. 
 
 HOWARD. You must love him! 
 
 HANNS. I do, tremendously: it is so difficult not 
 to love. (He gets closer to HOWARD, 
 
 childishly} . 
 
 HOWARD (with a spasmodic gesture pressing the boy 
 to him}. I'll find Johann for you. Trust 
 me ! Come on now, there's a good chap.
 
 5* THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HANNS (allowing himself to be led off. Left, to LENA 
 over his shoulder}. And you'll come up, won't 
 you, and talk to me? 
 
 LENA (roused from her silent contemplation of the two). 
 Yes, of course. 
 
 When HOWARD and HANNS have gone, BERGENROTH 
 comes slowly up to LENA with an insinuating movement. 
 
 BERGENROTH. I wish to bargain with you. 
 
 LENA. Well? 
 
 BERGENROTH. You are a good woman. 
 
 LENA. It has been said so often that someday, in 
 spite of myself, I shall believe it. I have not 
 committed murder ; I do not habitually lie, 
 nor do I steal. If these virtues constitute 
 goodness, I am a good woman. 
 
 BERGENROTH. You are not likely to yield to tempt- 
 ations many women can't resist. 
 
 LENA. Perhaps to me they are not temptations. 
 
 BERGENROTH. You have always an answer. (#* 
 settles down to his task). You would sacrifice 
 yourself for another. 
 
 LENA. I don't think so. 
 
 BERGENROTH (during her}. Someone you loved? 
 
 LENA. I don't think so. 
 
 BERGENROTH (closely}. You love that boy? 
 
 LENA. Yes. 
 
 BERGENROTH. What would you give for him? 
 
 LENA. I don't know what you mean. 
 
 BERGENROTH. Would you, to save his life, give yours?
 
 ACT II. 53 
 
 LENA (an almost imperceptible tremor in her voice). 
 What is my life? (She shrugs her shoulders, 
 looks about her, wide-eyed. She stretches out 
 her arms, opens her hands, as if to let 
 her life trickle through her fingers, a thing 
 of no account. ,) Yes. 
 
 BERGENROTH. I do not ask you to give your life. 
 LENA. You do not ask? 
 BERGENROTH. I love you. 
 
 LENA. You have said so, who do not know the mean- 
 ing of love. 
 
 BERGENROTH. If I give you his life, will you give 
 yourself to me ? 
 
 LENA. His life is not yours. 
 
 BERGENROTH. He will die if you cannot find his 
 friend ; his life is ebbing one can see it : 
 he is already half in the next world, seeing 
 visions. I know where his friend is. I can 
 tell you where he can be found at once. Give 
 yourself to me and the boy's mind will be at 
 rest and his life saved. 
 
 LENA (for the first time losing self-control). I can't, 
 I can't, I dare not. I can't give you myself: 
 I am not my own. 
 
 BERGENROTH. But if he dies . . ? 
 
 LENA (off her guard). I didn't mean him. 
 
 BERGENROTH. You meant that ... (a low scream 
 of rage escapes him). I know whom you 
 meant. But you stand no chance there. He 
 has no eyes for you.
 
 54 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 LENA {with a bitter cry from the heart). God help 
 me 1 Is it so plain to all the world ? 
 
 BERGENROTH (bluntly}. As plain as a pikestaff. 
 
 LENA. Yet while he lives . . 
 
 BERGENROTH (involuntarily}. While he lives . . . 
 
 The two glare at each other for a moment. Presently 
 LENA draws herself up to a posture of superb dignity. 
 BERGENROTH, his eyes fixed eagerly upon her, is 
 doubtful of her intention. 
 
 LENA. You see me as I am a woman loathing you 
 (BERGENROTH shrinks) ; loving another man with 
 all my soul without knowing why ; and loving 
 a boy of eighteen with all the tenderness of a 
 childless mother. (She pauses. He expects 
 her to go on, so does not interrupt, but waits 
 in tense expectation). Would you take me, 
 so? 
 
 BERGENROTH. Yes! (He goes towards her with 
 a Passionate movement: she keeps him at bay 
 with a gesture). 
 
 LENA. Bring the man here then. 
 
 BERGENROTH. I didn't undertake to bring him here. 
 I said I would tell you where he was. That 
 I will do. Let your Englishman go for him. 
 
 LENA. Call him: I cannot. 
 
 BERGENROTH (going to the door left). Mr. Sachs I 
 (Pause). Will you tell the Englishman we 
 are waiting? 
 
 SACHS, off, mumbles. BERGENROTH comes back. 
 LENA has remained motionless, stonelike. He ap-
 
 ACT II. 55 
 
 Broaches her, as if to speak ; is rather scared by her 
 
 immobility, changes his mind and goes away from 
 
 her. No word Passes between them. HOWARD comes 
 
 in. 
 
 HOWARD. Well? 
 
 LENA. He will tell you where Johann is to be found. 
 
 LENA lets her eyes move in the direction of BERGEN- 
 
 ROTH. HOWARD, too, is a little taken aback by her 
 
 motionlessness . 
 
 HOWARD. You do know then? 
 
 BERGENROTH (shortly). Come, I will tell you where 
 
 he is to be found. 
 
 With a glance of questioning towards LENA, to which 
 she does not respond, HOWARD follows BERGENROTH 
 out. The door closes. LENA remains unmoving, 
 
 CURTAIN.
 
 56 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 THE INN. 
 
 LENA has not moved. 
 
 HOWARD comes in quietly. LENA does not hear him. 
 
 HOWARD. Have you been standing there ever since 
 I went out ? 
 
 LENA (starting). But you only just went out. 
 HOWARD. It is at least ten minutes since I went 
 
 out. 
 
 LENA (with assumed lightness). I was day-dreaming. 
 HOWARD. You seemed spell-bound. 
 LENA. I think I was. Why have you returned? 
 HOWARD. There is no hurry. That man . . . 
 LENA. Bergenroth? 
 HOWARD. Yes said that Johann will not be at the 
 
 place he mentioned for at least half-an-hour. 
 LENA. Oh. And what place is it? 
 HOWARD. A clearing in the wood, above the town, 
 
 midway between here and the Tannenkreis: a 
 
 place called Schreinbaum. 
 
 LENA. I know it. Where the roads fork. One path 
 takes you still higher above the town ; the other 
 to Tannenkreis. It is there that the Pathfinders 
 are gathering to-night for the Mid-Lent merry- 
 making ; a great day for them. You ought 
 to go. 
 
 HOWARD. How can I? 
 
 LENA. True. (There is the sound of music off). 
 The world is full of music to-night.
 
 ACT III. 57 
 
 HOWARD. Yes, the revellers ; and that boy lying in 
 painl 
 
 LENA. I think he is not now physically ill ; and his 
 mind is eased now that he knows you are going 
 to find his friend. 
 
 HOWARD. May I succeed in doing sol 
 
 LENA. You will. 
 
 HOWARD. You think Bergenroth is to be trusted? 
 
 LENA. On this occasion, yes. 
 
 HOWARD. Only on this occasion? 
 
 LENA. Yes. It is a bargain. 
 
 HOWARD (coming closer to her}. What is the price 
 
 you have bid for his help? 
 LENA (proudly}. You have no right to ask. 
 HOWARD (accepting the rebuke}. No. I am sorry. 
 
 But you led me to ask. 
 LENA. I wanted you to ask. 
 
 HOWARD. In order that you might refuse to answer? 
 LENA. Yes. (Quietly}. You see: I am capricious, 
 
 like all women. 
 HOWARD. Not like all women. You had an ulterior 
 
 motive a good motive in leading me to ask. 
 LENA (impatiently}. Why a "good" motive? I have 
 
 never claimed " goodness " ; why do you all 
 
 credit me with "goodness?" I am human, 
 
 a woman, with the desires and longings common 
 
 to my sex. 
 
 HOWARD. But with none of their wiles. 
 LENA. But all men see through women's wiles. They're 
 
 a sham, but an acknowledged sham.
 
 58 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD. Part of the game of sex? 
 
 LENA. Yes. And because I will not make use of 
 these tricks, people say I am " good " not 
 gracious, but " good," virtuous, without natural 
 womanish desires or feelings. Pf! They are 
 fools. I have little of the " goodness " they 
 credit me with, but some virtues which perhaps 
 they don't suspect. 
 
 HOWARD (fascinated by her earnestness}. You are 
 hard on them: how could they be expected to 
 understand anything but the obvious? Nobody 
 does. As your friend Bergenroth said 
 
 LENA. My friend! 
 
 HOWARD. He claims your friendship . . indeed he 
 claims more . . . 
 
 LENA (in quiet heat}. And has no right. 
 HOWARD. How should I know? 
 LENA. I am not blaming you. 
 
 HOWARD (going closer to her}. You are holding 
 something back all the time. True, I have 
 only known you a day, but . . . 
 
 LENA (in wonder). Only a day . . I Yes, only a 
 day. We mortals speak of time. Yet we 
 two are immemorially linked. 
 
 HOWARD (uneasy). I don't understand. 
 
 LENA. No, not with your head. 
 
 HOWARD. You speak as a mystic. (He is half- 
 inclined to laugh). 
 
 LENA. Mysticism is another of my attributes accord- 
 ing to the folk here. If it were the Middle-
 
 ACT III. 59 
 
 Ages they would burn me for a witch. (SAe 
 laughs'). 
 
 HOWARD. You are amazing. 
 
 LENA. The boy upstairs understands. 
 
 HOWARD. Oh, he is wonderful. 
 
 LENA. No ; not wonderful. He gives his instincts 
 
 free play, that is all. 
 HOWARD (interested}. And I? 
 
 LENA. You are free, too, but only physically. You 
 come, you go ; you have courage, strength ; 
 but your mind is still chained, a slave. 
 
 HOWARD (resentfully}. But I assure you . . 
 
 LENA (shrugging). Of course you don't think so; 
 nobody does. But wait until life offers you a 
 choice which runs counter to your tethered mind ; 
 then you will see how just is my criticism. 
 
 HOWARD. I wish you would tell me . . (A knor.k}. 
 
 LENA. Come in I 
 
 Two PATHFINDERS come in: a YOUTH and a GIRL. 
 
 GIRL. Excuse me. There were two Pathfinders stay- 
 ing here ? 
 
 LENA. One still is ; the other is gone. 
 
 GIRL. There is a festival to-night at the Tannen- 
 kreis, in the forest; do they know? 
 
 LENA. I'm not sure ; but the elder of them is gone, 
 and the younger one isn't well. 
 
 YOUTH. Thank you. We thought they ought to 
 know. It will be great fun. You may come 
 too, if you like. It isn't only for Pathfinders. 
 Any young people will be welcome. (He
 
 60 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 waxes enthusiastic}. We're going to let the 
 old folk see that we've done with 'em. It's 
 time Youth had a go 1 We're tired of being 
 cooped up and serious. Do come, if you can. 
 
 The door Left opens and a HARLEQUIN pirouettes in ; 
 he sidles up to LENA, puts his arm round her waist 
 and attempts unsuccessfully to kiss her. 
 
 HARLEQUIN. No reserve to-night, Lena, you beautiful 
 virgin. 
 
 LENA wrenches herself free. Unabashed, the HARLE- 
 QUIN pirouettes across the stage and through the other 
 door. 
 
 LENA (flinging out her arms in disgust}. His breath! 
 HOWARD. Who was it? 
 
 LENA. One of the customers. Mid-Lent has become 
 an excuse for this! 
 
 GlRL. It is the old spirit. Bad breath and stuffiness 
 which break into license once a year. (She 
 turns to the YOUTH). Come on, dear! (To 
 LENA). And thank you! If the boy can 
 come, tell him to, and you too. (The HARLE- 
 QUIN pushes his head through the window and 
 grins, withdrawing it as the GIRL looks at 
 him}. I think you two are not like that 
 (indicating the figure at the window.} 
 
 YOUTH and GIRL go out. There is the sound of 
 raucous laughter and coarse singing in the room off 
 Left. 
 
 HOWARD. Do you think the boy is sleeping through 
 this? Shall I go to him?
 
 ACT III. 61 
 
 LENA. You can't bear to stay here any longer? (She 
 laughs a little harshly'). 
 
 HOWARD (uneasily). It isn't that. . . The kid is 
 so deuced winning I 
 
 LENA. Why is it? What is it in him that attracts 
 
 you ? 
 
 HOWARD. For that matter, what is there in him 
 that attracts you? 
 
 LENA. I know what it is. 
 
 HOWARD. W r ell? 
 
 LENA. It is my latent motherhood. 
 
 HOWARD (with understanding'). I see. I think I 
 understand that. 
 
 LENA. And you? 
 
 HOWARD. It isn't so easy for me to answer. 
 
 LENA (eagerly). Is it not the latent fatherhood? 
 
 HOWARD. No. Or if it is that it is something else be- 
 sides. It is not easy to explain. (He laughs). I 
 would rather say it is the latent motherhood. 
 And it is not only that. Oh, I don't know what it 
 is! He is the coming generation Youth: I am 
 already passing into the last generation .... 
 into middle-age ! Perhaps it's that. 
 
 LENA. At thirty! Nonsense! 
 
 HOWARD. Not nonsense. I want to cling to his 
 youth, because I believe so intensely in Youth 
 as the only possible redeemer of this mad bad 
 old world. I am old enough to be crusted 
 with the bad traditions of the past : he is still 
 fresh and young enough to fling off traditions.
 
 6z THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 LENA (becoming excited}. No, not even he is young 
 enough for that. There is need for new life, 
 a life concentrated to the future. Oh, that I 
 might mother it ! 
 
 HOWARD looks at her in wonder. The noise off 
 becomes more and more aggressive as the door opens 
 and OLD SACHS, drunk, rolls in. He mimics a 
 conversation between him and another, with coarse 
 guffaws punctuating the narrative. 
 
 SACHS. " Your belly's as full of beer as an egg is full 
 of meat," he said ; and " Your head's as empty 
 as the Heidelberg vat," I said. " Show me 
 the man that's my master, empty or full," I 
 said ; and because at that moment a cat got 
 mixed up with my legs and sent me sprawling, 
 the fools laughed and cried : " There's your 
 master 1 " I being drunk, as anyone with half 
 an eye can see. 
 
 HOWARD (whimsically). Disgustingly drunk! 
 
 SACHS (raving). You young fool I Beer is the source 
 of Germany's greatness. (His hands caress 
 his paunch, and he chuckles good-humouredly.) 
 
 HOWARD. Who was your antagonist? 
 
 SACHS (slyly). Never you mind I One who'll get 
 the better of you, for all your cleverness. 
 
 HOWARD (pausing for a moment's consideration). Oh? 
 
 Produce this marvel ! 
 SACHS (putting his finger to the side of his nose). 
 
 I'm not from yesterday! (He winks). You 
 
 sly fox ! 
 HOWARD. Is it somebody I know?
 
 ACT III. 63 
 
 SACHS. A serious man. When others are drinking 
 and making merry, he paces up and down the 
 world planning and plotting ! An uncommonly 
 'cute man! (The explosive consonants occa- 
 sion hiccoughing). 
 
 The HARLEQUIN pirouettes in again from Left, crosses 
 the stage, approaching LENA, who shrinks back ; he 
 Passes out with a laugh. The opening of the door 
 releases the noise of the revellers in the bar. 
 SACHS. They'll be going to the market-place now: it 
 is the hour. And my cellar still choked -with 
 undrunk beer 1 The fools ! The more for 
 me, the more for me 1 
 
 LENA (to HOWARD). It is the usual Mid-Lent festival. 
 The market-place will be a scene of wild and 
 unrestrained revelry. 
 
 Some FIGURES Pass the window, rolling, singing ; 
 others including HARLEQUIN and others in fantastic 
 costume, come on from Left and across the stage, 
 going off Right: some of them are singing, or playing 
 concertinas, lutes or guitars. SACHS rolls out with 
 them. BERGENROTH comes in at the end of the 
 party, quiet. Seeing that LENA and HOWARD are 
 together, his quietness is ousted by an expression of 
 fury. 
 BERGENROTH (curtly to HOWARD). You will leave 
 
 in twenty minutes? 
 HOWARD. You have no doubt he will be there? 
 
 BERGENROTH. None. I am a man of my word. 
 I give full measure: I exact full measure. (He 
 gives a sharp glance to LENA, who winces 
 slightly).
 
 64 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD (not to be impressed}. Indeed 1 You speak 
 as if that were an uncommon virtue. One 
 expects it of honest men, Mr. Bergenroth. 
 
 BERGENROTH says nothing ; but with quiet deliberate- 
 ness goes out. 
 
 HOWARD. May I wait here? 
 LENA. Do. 
 
 HOWARD takes up a newspaper ; sits down and starts 
 to read. LENA goes to the door Left and listens. 
 
 HOWARD. Did you hear anything? Is he moving? 
 
 / 
 
 LENA. I thought I heard a movement. I must have 
 been mistaken. 
 
 She goes to the window ; pushes it open. The noise 
 of music, penny trumpets, etc. is heard faintly. She 
 closes the window and draws the curtains. 
 
 LENA. It is strange. This merry-making unnerves 
 me. It is laughter without mirth ; noise with- 
 out music. Mid-Lent I A breathing-space be- 
 tween a fasting and a fasting. And yet to- 
 morrow they will be guzzling wine and beer as 
 usual. 
 
 HOWARD. You are bitter. Why don't you accept 
 mankind for what it is? Life for most of these 
 people is normally a long grey grind without 
 relief, earning their miserable bread by the 
 sweat of their brows and the breaking of their 
 backs. How can you wonder if they take this 
 one opportunity in a season to let themselves 
 go? It is a relief from the tricking and grind- 
 ing and toiling of every day.
 
 ACT III. 65 
 
 LENA. What a world that can provide only such 
 relief I 
 
 HOWARD. It is the world we live in. {He looks at 
 /it's watch). Ten minutes more and then I go 
 in search of Johann, of whom I am damnably 
 jealous I (He laughs.) 
 
 LENA (her voice vibrating}. I have an hour's respite. 
 
 HOWARD. What do you mean by that? 
 
 LENA (pausing a moment, then flinging back her head 
 proudly). I will tell you. It will be good 
 for you. I will tell you. In ten minutes you 
 will leave here ; you will reach Johann twenty 
 minutes later: that is, in half an hour. It will 
 take ten minutes to persuade Johann to return 
 and it will take you twenty minutes to return 
 with him. An hour. 
 
 HOWARD. Well? 
 
 LENA. My freedom will then be ended. 
 
 HOWARD (rising). I don't understand. 
 
 LENA. I offered myself to Bergenroth on condition 
 that he found Johann. 
 
 HOWARD (horror-stricken). You offered yourself . . ? 
 
 LENA (slightly out of control). Yes. I thought the 
 boy would die. 
 
 HOWARD. You love him so much? 
 
 LENA. I love him, yes. It is not much to give. 
 
 HOWARD. Your virginity? 
 
 LENA (quietly). I said I would let him marry me. 
 I offered no more. 
 
 HOWARD. But Bergenroth is not a man to be put 
 off in that way.
 
 66 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 LENA. My life is my own. 
 
 HOWARD. You mean you would take your own life? 
 LENA. Yes, a thousand times over rather than that. 
 HOWARD (in awe). I think you are the most wonder- 
 ful woman I have ever met. (He goes to 
 take her hand, as if to kiss it.} 
 LENA (drawing back from him, with a low hurt cry). 
 
 Don't touch me: I couldn't bear it. 
 HOWARD. But this mustn't be allowed. No woman 
 
 should sacrifice so much. 
 LENA. You say that? Would you not give your 
 
 life for the boy? 
 HOWARD. My life, yes. . . a tribute from Thirty 
 
 to Eighteen! 
 
 At this moment, above the quiet murmur of noises out- 
 side, there rises a swelling volume of more deliberate 
 music. A party of Pathfinders, singing a marching-song, 
 are passing by ; as they approach the words are heard. 
 
 PATHFINDERS' SONG 
 
 Come, throw off your bedclothes and fling night away, 
 Go, strip you and bath you and greet the new day I 
 Fling open the windows and greet the new day! 
 If sleep still enchains you and dreams still hold sway, 
 Shout out: " I've awakened and lo! it is day! 
 The darkness has vanished and lo I it is day! " 
 The world's to be cleaned up: there's no time to waste. 
 Give heed to the voice that is calling: "Make haste! 
 Go get you your brooms and your axes : Make haste I 
 Hack here and hack there and uproot without ruth 
 The weeds than entangle and strangle the truth 
 And hinder the progress of clear-visioned Youth!
 
 ACT III. 67 
 
 HOWARD goes to the window and draws the curtains 
 apart ; LENA follows him and the two stand together, 
 shoulder almost touching shoulder. 
 
 Presently HANNS comes in from Left ; he is dressed 
 as in the first act and carries his lute. He still looks 
 pale, and there is excitement in his bearing. He looks 
 at HOWARD and LENA with the dawning of know- 
 ledge in his eyes ; steps towards them, and steps back 
 again, undecided. 
 
 HOWARD (not turning round). How jolly and happy 
 
 they are 1 
 
 HANNS looks at them again ; an expression almost of 
 pain trembles momentarily on his lips. He goes out 
 Right: the others do not hear him. 
 
 HOWARD (excited}. That's the spirit. (He sings a 
 snatch of the song of the Pathfinders}. Clean 
 living, the open air, throwing off the artificial 
 things of civilisation: that's what we wantl 
 Lord! I'm beginning to think I'm not so 
 old after all. Thirty what's thirty if you 
 still feel young. 
 
 LENA (only now coming from the window.} But at 
 your age you can't " throw off," at my age 
 you can't. For .good or ill, we're made, 
 and the most we can do is not to get in the 
 way of the young. No! There's one other 
 thing we can do. 
 
 HOWARD. What's that? 
 
 LENA. We can rear new men and women untrammelled 
 with the old traditions. We can create new 
 life!
 
 68 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD. Do you realise what you are saying? 
 He again raises his hand as if to touch her ; she shrinks 
 from him as if contact with him would wound. 
 LENA (excitedly). No, do not touch me: it is not 
 
 safe. 
 HOWARD (persisting in his thought). Do you realise 
 
 that you who are talking about creating new 
 
 life have relinquished the right to create? 
 LENA. I have relinquished nothing! (She throws 
 
 her hands out and down, exposing herself as 
 
 it were to attack.) 
 HOWARD (uneasy). But . . . 
 
 LENA (with quiet forcefulness) . Give me a child I 
 HOWARD (non-plussed) . I ... 
 LENA. I will mother the finest child that ever drew 
 
 breath on this earth and you will father it. 
 HOWARD. I ... 
 LENA. This is the choice which will decide whether 
 
 your mind is tethered or free. 
 HOWARD. I ... 
 LENA. Go now. But come back. I shall judge you 
 
 by your courage in this decision. 
 
 HOWARD is dumb ; turning, but with his eyes still 
 on her, he goes slowly out Right. 
 
 LENA remains still for some seconds, and then quietly 
 and with dignity goes out Left. When she has gone 
 one becomes conscious of the confusion of music and 
 carnival noises outside. She comes back and goes 
 out hurriedly, Right. 
 
 CURTAIN
 
 ACT IV. 69 
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 SHREINBAUM. A clearing in the wood above Burg- 
 stein. There are two paths, one rising as it leads 
 off the stage. Left ; the other beneath it, also rising 
 as it leaves, but at a lower level: a fringe of bushes 
 between them. Fastened to the trunk of a tree on 
 tlie Left, a shrine containing the black image of the 
 Virgin. In the background, the cliff -edge and the 
 sky. Trees rise from the very brink of the cliff, 
 but there are gaps. 
 It is night. Bright moonlight. 
 
 Sitting on the rising ground near the edge of the cliff, 
 and with their backs to the audience, are the 
 YOUTH and GIRL of the last act. The GIRL sits 
 fairly upright ; the YOUTH is leaning towards her. 
 They do not speak. JOHANN comes in from the 
 Right, with stealthy movement ; he hears footsteps be- 
 hind him and slinks back into the shadow of the 
 trees. A LAD and a GIRL come on from Right: 
 they are Pathfinders, the girl carrying a guitar. They 
 pass right across the stage and go off Left. A 
 groan escapes from JOHANN. The girl on the cliff - 
 edge turns to her companion. 
 GlRL. Did you hear that? 
 YOUTH. It was the wind. 
 GIRL. There is no wind. 
 YOUTH. Oh yes; look at the leaves of the trees: 
 
 they are shaking. 
 GIRL. I shouldn't have thought the wind could cry 
 
 so: it was so human. (Slight pause). 
 
 YOUTH. Sing to me.
 
 7 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 GIRL. A love-song? 
 
 YOUTH (kissing her quietly}. Of course a love-song. 
 
 GIRL sings to her own accompaniment : 
 
 THE FORSAKEN MAIDEN 
 
 
 
 Oh you sorry-eyed maiden 
 
 With tears brimming over, 
 And with heart over-laden 
 For the loss of your lover: 
 
 True love is unending, 
 The best of God's sending. 
 Take this ease for your pain: 
 He will come back again. 
 
 " Oh, he took me in rapture 
 
 And he left me in laughter ; 
 He vaunted his capture 
 
 And the joy that came after. 
 
 His love soon found ending, 
 And my heart's past mending. 
 There's no ease for my pain 
 Though he come back again." 
 
 Oh, sorrow betide you, 
 
 You so weak and so human ! 
 Go hide you, go hide you, 
 You sin-heavy woman I 
 
 Let this be the ending 
 Of love's over-spending. 
 Sin aye leadeth to pain: 
 Pray he come not again. 
 
 YOUTH. Why did you choose such a wistful song?
 
 ACT IV. 7 
 
 GIRL. Because I am happy: I couldn't bear to sing 
 that if I were unhappy. It is time we went 
 on. I heard two Pathfinders go by. 
 
 YOUTH. It can't be nearly ten o'clock yet and the 
 meeting isn't till half-past. Still, I am ready. 
 Come. 
 
 He helps her to rise. JOHANN emerges from the 
 gloom of the trees. 
 
 JOHANN. Where are you going? 
 
 GIRL (startled}. Oh! Have you been there all the 
 
 time? 
 
 JOHANN. Yes. 
 
 GIRL. And it was you who made that noise? 
 JOHANN (miserably}. The unutterable loneliness . . 
 
 GIRL. You are lonely? Join us, then. There is 
 to be great fun on the top of the hill to-night, 
 in celebration of Mid-Lent. A gathering of 
 Pathfinders and people from the town. 
 
 JOHANN (in horror}. In such a crowd I should be 
 lonelier than ever. 
 
 YOUTH. What a queer chap you are! 
 
 JOHANN (fiercely}. Queer, to resent loneliness? 
 
 YOUTH. Why should you be lonely? The world 
 
 is full of good people. 
 JOHANN. The world is empty. 
 
 YOUTH. Oh come, the world is full of love. (In- 
 voluntarily he takes the girl's arm). 
 
 JOHANN. The world is full of hatred. It is con- 
 suming itself with hatred.
 
 7* THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 GIRL. You mean you hate someone? 
 
 JOHANN. I am my world I 
 
 YOUTH. Then you will consume yourself. 
 
 JOHANN. I hope so. 
 
 GlRL. Why do you hate? 
 
 JOHANN. Because I love. 
 
 GlRL. You mean you are jealous? 
 
 JOHANN. How did you know? 
 
 GlRL. It is only in jealousy that hate and love keep 
 company in the same heart. But if your love 
 is real, and not a selfish thing, the 'hate will 
 pass even if it means giving up your beloved. 
 
 JOHANN. Ft! I'm not that kind. When I love I 
 want. 
 
 GlRL {with quiet 'precision). Yes, that is so many 
 men's way of love : possession, absorption 1 Some 
 day you will learn. (She turns to go.) 
 
 YOUTH. If you care to come, we shall be pleased 
 to have you: on the hill-top, Tannenkreis 
 singing and dancing and good-fellowship 1 
 
 Footsteps. 
 
 JOHANN (hastily) . Thank you ; but I think I will 
 not come. Not now. I am expecting a friend. 
 
 BERGENROTH comes in from Right. 
 
 JOHANN. Perhaps this is he. 
 
 YOUTH. Then Goodbye. 
 
 GlRL. Goodbye. I'll pray for your release. 
 
 JOHANN (mechanically, as he turns to BERGENROTH). 
 Goodbye. 
 
 YOUTH and GIRL go out.
 
 ACT IV 73 
 
 BERGEXROTH. Who were they? 
 
 JOHANN. Lovers. I don't know them. Quick, while 
 the fever is in me. 
 
 BERGENROTH (coolly}. This is not a time for fever: 
 it can lead you to nothing but rashness. Sit 
 down ; be calm. 
 
 JOHANN sits down on the rising ground. BERGENROTH 
 remains standing. 
 
 JOHANN (impatiently}. Don't moralise. Get down 
 to it. Have you a plan? 
 
 BERGENROTH (retaining coolness of manner). It is 
 dangerous here, at the cliff edge ; they ought 
 to put a railing. I have mentioned it before. 
 Some day there will be an accident. Well, I 
 have warned them. 
 
 JOHANN. Why do you talk about that now? 
 
 BERGENROTH. It seems relevant, when we are within 
 
 a yard of possible death. 
 
 JOHANN gives a glance in the direction of the cliff- 
 edge ; shudders. Quietens. 
 JOHANN. Death is a soothing thought. 
 BERGENROTH. For those who are tired of life. (Pause). 
 
 He will come this way in less than half an 
 
 hour. 
 JOHANN. Why? And how do you know? 
 
 BERGENROTH. I have arranged it. He will come to 
 fetch you. 
 
 JOHANN (rising, in fear). How does he know I'm 
 
 here? 
 BERGENROTH. I told him.
 
 74 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 JOHANN. You betrayed me? 
 
 BERGENROTH (remaining quiet}. Yes. 
 
 JOHANN (quietened by the other's quiet, bitterly). 
 
 Even my accomplices in evil betray me. There 
 
 is no honour even among rogues. 
 
 BERGENROTH. Don't be a fool. I had a purpose. 
 JOHANN. I've no doubt. 
 
 BERGENROTH. He will come here, knowing that you 
 are here ; he will be keen with the desire to 
 punish you for having struck the boy. (JOHANN 
 winces) . He will intend to bring you to 
 justice: thus you will be out of his way. 
 
 JOHANN (feverishly). Well, and what do you intend 
 me to do? 
 
 BERGENROTH. It is night ; how easy to slip over 
 the edge of the cliff in this uncertain light I 
 
 JOHANN. You mean that I am to murder him! 
 BERGENROTH. Your own desire suggests the thought. 
 The tinkling of a lute, Right. 
 
 JOHANN (hysterically). I can't bear this everlasting 
 music 1 
 
 BERGENROTH. You are nervy. 
 
 Two PATHFINDERS come on: one strums a guitar. 
 They are laughing and chattering. BERGENROTH and 
 JOHANN fall into the shadow. The PATHFINDERS cross 
 the stage and pass off , Left. 
 
 JOHANN. Youth, and music, and love! 
 BERGENROTH. Don't be sentimental ; pull yourself 
 together 1
 
 ACT IV. 75 
 
 JOHANN (toying with the idea). He will pass out 
 of the world, and then? Oh, it is sweet .to 
 think of him out of the world ! He said to 
 me " Your love is the love forbidden which 
 leads to destruction." He little thought that 
 it would lead to his destruction. (He laughs). 
 
 BERGENROTH. And it is so easy. A false step 
 and that is the end. 
 
 They go mechanically to the edge of the cliff and 
 look over. 
 
 JOHANN. Is death so easy? 
 
 BERGENROTH (flippantly). Another's death, yes. 
 
 JOHANN. And I suppose Hanns is content that I 
 should pass right out of life. 
 
 BERGENROTH. The boy? Yes. He doesn't give you 
 a thought. All he thinks of is the Englishman. 
 Why you should all be so wild about the 
 boy I don't know, but there's no doubt that 
 with the Englishman out of t'he way you'd 
 soon get his friendship again. 
 
 JOHANN (fearfully}. But if he ever knew that I 
 was responsible for the Englishman's death? 
 
 BERGENROTH. You're a fool. How could he ever 
 know? 
 
 JOHANN. Hanns has a sixth sense. It is true. He 
 is more than human ; he has rapport with other 
 spheres. (BERGENROTH scorns the sug- 
 
 gestion, but JOHANN does not heed him). 
 He is a well of innocence and delight. Dear 
 God I the days we have spent together, joying 
 in each other's company when he has wanted
 
 76 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 nobody but me, and I never anybody but him. 
 
 He was my world, my all. (With a cry from 
 
 the heart}. Why did he change? 
 BERGENROTH. He will change back to you when 
 
 the Englishman is out of the way. 
 JOHANN. He would hate me for my deceit. Oh, 
 
 I am a weakling, unable to stand on my own 
 
 legs dependent on him, with no use for life 
 
 without him. 
 
 BERGENROTH (pressing}. Well, then . . . 
 JOHANN (heavily}. And no use for life with him 
 
 and the knowledge of my own deceit. 
 BERGENROTH. You fool I You credit the boy with 
 
 powers he doesn't possess. He will never know, 
 
 can never know. You will be ridding the 
 
 world of one more Englishman : what a crime 1 
 JOHANN. You tempt me. 
 BERGENROTH. I will see that you escape. Here is 
 
 money. (He takes the money from his pocket ; 
 
 JOHANN pushes it aside}. You can be well 
 
 into Austria before the body is found. 
 JOHANN (suddenly}. And why are you so anxious 
 
 for his death? 
 BERGENROTH (taken aback}. I too find him in my 
 
 way. 
 JOHANN (suddenly again}. Then you put him out 
 
 of your way. 
 
 BERGENROTH. But this is nonsense! 
 JOHANN (continuing his own thought}. I shall not I 
 
 (He turns away; BERGENROTH grabs at but 
 
 misses his arm}.
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 77 
 
 BERGENROTH. Come here, you idiot I (JOHANN stops 
 and half-turns). If you refuse to do this thing 
 you shall answer for it. I will take you back 
 to him. 
 
 He springs upon JOHANN, who is taken unawares 
 and scarcely resists the onslaught. The two men 
 struggle violently, falling to the ground ; they pant 
 but do not speak; they roll nearer and nearer to the 
 edge of the cliff. BERGENROTH seems to be unaware 
 of this, but JOHANN consistently tends to struggle 
 to the edge until, with a final effort, he forces BERGEN- 
 ROTH over. He is himself almost carried over, but 
 clutches at a tree which springs from the cliff-edge 
 and by this means drags himself back to safety. He 
 is mad with excitement and rushes about in a gesti- 
 culating hysteria, running up the incline and down 
 again, and would seem, to be about to fling himself 
 over when the silence is split by the sound of the 
 marching PATHFINDERS. JOHANN, stayed in his pur- 
 pose, stands motionless, black against the sky, taut 
 and enigmatic. A glow of warm light gradually 
 suffuses the stage, which simultaneously resounds with 
 the firm tramp and rhythmic music of song, lute and 
 guitar. The PATHFINDERS come on from the Right, 
 many of them carrying flaming torches. They do 
 not pause, but march right across the stage, taking 
 the path down-stage. The last boy takes his torch 
 to the foot of the tree to which the shrine is attached 
 and forces it into the ground. 
 BOY. The last torch for the Black Virgin 1 (He goes 
 
 off). 
 
 JOHANN, unmoving, remains unnoticed. The song dies 
 away in the distance as HANNS comes on.
 
 78 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 PATHFINDERS' SONG. 
 
 The world's to be cleaned up: there's no time to waste. 
 Give heed to the voice that is calling: Make 'haste 1 
 Go get you your brooms and your axes : Make haste I 
 
 Hack 'here and hack there and uproot without ruth 
 The weeds that entangle and strangle the truth 
 And hinder the progress of clear- visioned Youth 1 
 
 HANNS walks slowly as if tired: his lute is under his 
 arm. A moment passes before the recognition and 
 then JOHANN cries out in a great shout of pained joy. 
 
 JOHANN. Hanns 1 
 
 HANNS (turning, in a tone of excitement, subdued']. 
 
 Jo harm I 
 
 JOHANN rushes to him, clasps him feverishly to him ; 
 the lute falls to the ground unheeded. JOHANN, in a 
 Passion of love, clings to the boy, kisses him, mutter- 
 ing " My Hanns," " My Boy." HANNS does not 
 speak, nor actively respond, but suffers the caresses 
 passively. JOHANN, at last realising that his fervour 
 is not met with equal fervour, holds HANNS at arms' 
 length. 
 JOHANN. No longer ago than this morning you loved 
 
 me. 
 
 HANNS. I still love you ; but I can't give all my 
 love to one person. My heart is big, Johann ; 
 I love many. Listen to that music up there 
 on the hill-top: that is those boys and girls 
 who just went by. I think I love them all. 
 I want to be with them. I can't give anybody 
 all of me. I am mine and I am all the world's. 
 Don't you understand, Johann? Do try. I
 
 ACT IV. 79 
 
 can't put my heart in prison and chain up my 
 feelings. Living and giving are one. 
 
 JOHANN shakes his head, not understanding. 
 
 JOHANN. It is the end, Hanns. You pass on; I 
 stay. Goodbye. 
 
 'H\e again seizes HANNS in his arms, kisses him furious- 
 ly, and then hurries goes off Right, returning almost 
 immediately and looking expectantly towards HANNS, 
 whose back is to him ; but realising that there is 
 nothing more to be said he does not come farther on. 
 Presently he sits on the cliff-edge, his head bent 
 in dejection. 
 
 Meantime, HANNS stands unmoving, drooping ; his 
 figure expresses intense weariness. Presently he looks 
 round and his eye is caught by the image of the 
 Black Virgin lit up by the torch-flame. With a move- 
 ment of mingled eagerness and hesitancy he goes 
 nearer to it, looks up at it pathetically, and his 
 fingers interlock themselves in a gesture of suppli- 
 cation. He speaks in short jerky gasps, rather like 
 a child grown tired with crying. 
 
 HANNS. Oh, you strange Black Mother of God, 
 what do you make of it all ? Isn't the world 
 rather a joke? Loving is such a pain . . . 
 Poor Johannl And him, too. . . and Lena 
 . . . all loving and wanting and wanting in 
 vain. See here, you kind-faced Black Virgin, 
 what did He make us such half- formed crea- 
 tures for. . . longing and longing and never 
 achieving? It's not fair. It must mean some- 
 thing. It can't be a joke. It would be such 
 a bad joke.
 
 8o THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 A SECOND BOY comes on. 
 
 SECOND BOY. Hallo! 
 
 HANNS (turning round}. Hallo I 
 
 SECOND BOY. Going to the top? It's late, isn't it? 
 
 HANNS. Yes, I suppose it is. 
 
 SECOND BOY. Ripping night, isn't it? They'll be 
 coming down again soon. You coming? It 
 looks splendid from the valley all those torches. 
 Like fireflies. They're dancing up there now. 
 You coming? 
 
 HANNS. Are you alone? 
 
 SECOND BOY. Um. Come on! (He takes HANNS' 
 arm; they go off together arm in arm). 
 
 JOHANN rises ; in a fury he rushes to the shrine. He 
 seizes hold of the image, wrenching it from its niche. 
 HOWARD and LENA come on hurriedly during this 
 episode. 
 
 JOHANN (holding the image in front of him}. You 
 miserable sham! (He raises the figure above 
 his head and brings it crashing to the ground}. 
 
 HOWARD. What are you doing? 
 
 JOHANN turns round, startled. 
 
 JOHANN. It is your miserable Black Virgin, with her 
 coating of lies. She won't smile her empty 
 comfort on any other poor dupe. Oh, what a 
 world of humbug and lies and hypocrisies it 
 is! Thank God I'm quit of it I 
 
 HOWARD. Shi Calm yourself, old fellow. You're 
 unstrung. What is the matter? I've come to 
 fetch you.
 
 ACT IV. 8 1 
 
 JOKANN (shrieking}. Yes, I know. But it's too late. 
 LENA. What do you mean? Have you seen him? 
 JOHANN. Whom? Harms? Bergenroth? 
 LENA. Either of them. 
 
 JOHANN (slightly calmer}. I've seen both. One is 
 in hell and the other has passed on beyond 
 your ken and mine. 
 
 LENA (excitedly}. You are speaking in enigmas. Ex- 
 plain yourself. 
 
 HOWARD (quietly}. Tell us quietly what has happened? 
 
 JOHANN (somewhat calmed) . Hanns has gone up there 
 with the Pathfinders. He's not been gone five 
 minutes. 
 
 LENA (in agitation). I will go and find him. I 
 fear for him. He was not well enough to 
 stand this night air. 
 
 HOWARD. We will wait here. 
 
 LENA goes off Left. When she has gone the two 
 men are slightly ill-at-ease. JOHANN shifts his feet 
 nervously. HOWARD, coming quickly to a decision 
 which he promptly executes, holds out his hand. JOHANN 
 obeying the hypnotic suggestion, takes it. They re- 
 main with hands clasped for a moment or two. 
 
 HOWARD. You hated me. 
 JOHANN. I so easily hate. 
 
 HOWARD. Yes: it's a superstition not easily got rid 
 of. What did you mean just now when you 
 said you were quit of the world? 
 
 JOHANN. I have killed a man.
 
 8t THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD (laughing nervously}. What new joke is 
 this? 
 
 JOHANN (speaking with quiet, unexcited precision). 
 Bergenroth another whom I suddenly hated, 
 because he made me hate and despise my- 
 self. I killed him. He is now in hell. 
 
 HOWARD. How. . . and why have you not run away? 
 
 JOHANN. Why should I run away? Death is ex- 
 cellent. It was so easy to kill him. We 
 struggled here, on the cliff-top. He was only 
 thinking of his own life not of taking mine. 
 I was thinking of his life too and I meant to 
 destroy it. I sent him rolling down the cliff ; 
 and he tempted me no more. (He laughs a 
 dry little laugh.') 
 
 HOWARD goes to the cliff edge and looks over. 
 HOWARD. It would be certain death. What are you. . . 
 There is a sound of HANNS and LENA returning. 
 JOHANN breaks into HOWARD'S unfinished sentence. 
 
 JOHANN. They're coming back: I can't bear to see 
 
 him again. 
 
 JOHANN rushes off, up the incline. HANNS and LENA 
 come in. HANNS is speaking in quiet eager tones. 
 HANNS. I saw how it was or ought to be. I would 
 
 have told you I was going ; but I felt in 
 
 the way. I couldn't interrupt. 
 
 LENA. I have told you before that you are a child, a 
 foolish child. How could you have dared to 
 leave us like that?
 
 ACT IV. 83 
 
 HANNS. Oh, I intended corning back some time . . . 
 Hail! (This to HOWARD). Now don't you 
 start scolding me too, you all-conquering Eng- 
 lishman! But I know when I'm wanted and 
 I saw by the . . . Well, if you must know . .. 
 by the way she was holding herself all ting- 
 ling and expectant, that I wasn't wanted them. 
 
 HOWARD (coming down towards him}. You gave us a 
 fright. (He puts his hand over HANNS' shoul- 
 der and the latter presses nearer to him). 
 
 HOWARD. You make me feel as if I were ninetynine 
 
 when you cling to me like this, Hannsl 
 HANNS (roguishly). Well, you are getting on, aren't 
 
 you? 
 
 HOWARD. Thirty, by your leave. 
 
 HANNS (in the same spirit}. And not yet married! 
 Have you considered your duty to the future? 
 
 HOWARD. I have. And one of my duties is to keep an 
 eye on you. I shall keep you in tow in future. 
 
 HANNS. Do you really think you will? 
 
 HOWARD (suddenly serious}. You are not thinking of 
 leaving us again? 
 
 HANNS (also serious}. There is Johann. 
 
 HOWARD (tenderly}. You mustn't think too much about 
 Johann, old boy. Perhaps you will never see 
 him again. 
 
 HANNS (moving away}. Oh, yes: he is quite near. 
 He was -here a few minutes ago. I think he is 
 not far away. I will find him. . .
 
 84 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HOWARD. No, please Hanns: let the past be past. 
 
 Don't try and find him. 
 HANNS (going away). But I must. 
 
 HOWARD (pleading) . Please ! You will only give 
 
 yourself unnecessary pain. 
 HANNS (persistent). But Johann is in pain. (He 
 
 moves further away) . 
 HOWARD. Then let me come too. 
 
 HANNS. No. That would frighten him away. No. 
 You go and talk to her (He points to LENA, 
 and lightly chuckles). You're neglecting her 
 shamefully. 
 
 HOWARD. Do you promise to come back in a few 
 minutes' time? 
 
 HANNS. I promise. I must be here when the Path- 
 finders come down, in any case. 
 
 HOWARD. Very well, then, you self-willed child. 
 Go on. 
 
 HANNS goes. HOWARD turns towards LENA and 
 as he approaches her stumbles over the fragments of 
 the broken image. 
 
 HOWARD. I wonder why poor Johann had such a 
 vicious dislike of the Black Virgin. 
 
 LENA. I expect he remembered what I told him about 
 the Black Virgins this morning ; and he sud- 
 denly realised that he too had been worship- 
 ping a creature of wood, painted according 
 to his own fancy. Most of us do. (Her hands 
 are at her sides, her fists clenched tight: she 
 speaks through her teeth). We don't like the
 
 ACT IV. 85 
 
 paint scraped from our graven images. The 
 naked truth is hurtful to weak sight. 
 HOWARD (looking at her intently, suddenly}. Lena, 
 
 show me your hands. 
 
 LENA mechanically holds out her hands to him: the 
 action is that of one presenting a chalice. He ex- 
 amines her hands and starts back. 
 
 HOWARD. Blood. Your nails have drawn blood. 
 Oh, Lena: your self-control is terrible. I 
 am ashamed. My dear, I am not good enough 
 for you. I have nothing to offer you com- 
 parable to your exquisite truthfulness and 
 strength. I think I could worship you. 
 LENA (holding back}. I would reject your worship. 
 I only claim the tribute of your manhood and 
 your love . 
 
 An involuntary movement of his arms implies an in- 
 vitation. They embrace. 
 HANNS comes in. 
 HANNS (boyishly). I am jealous. 
 HOWARD. Of whom? 
 HANNS (pouting). Both of you. 
 HOWARD. Forgive us, old chap. It had to be, you 
 
 know. 
 
 HANNS. Yes. Bless you, my children. (He puts 
 his hands on their shoulders ; then turns his 
 lips towards LENA to be kissed: she kisses 
 them. Then towards HOWARD, and he kisses 
 them.} Fancy the sober Englishman kissing 
 a man! 
 HOWARD (playfully pursuing him}. A man you I
 
 86 THE BLACK VIRGIN 
 
 HANNS (suddenly}. I have seen Johann. He's going 
 to Austria, he says. But I'm sure he wasn't 
 telling the truth. Johann is afraid of telling 
 the truth when the truth hurts. But he wouldn't 
 come back to Burgstein. 
 The sound of the returning PATHFINDERS. 
 HANNS. Here they cornel 
 
 He shows greater and greater excitement as the sound 
 comes nearer. Presently the PATHFINDERS come on 
 from the Left, with torches, singing ,and playing. 
 
 The world's to be cleaned up: there's no time to waste, 
 Give heed to the voice that is calling : Make haste ! 
 Go get you your brooms and your axes : Make haste I 
 
 Hack here and hack there and uproot without ruth 
 The weeds that entangle and strangle the truth 
 And hinder the progress of clear-visioned Youth I 
 
 SECOND BOY breaks away from the end of the party 
 
 and goes to HANNS. 
 
 SECOND BOY. Come on! 
 
 HANNS (turning to HOWARD and LENA). I'm off. 
 I'll leave you to each other. 
 
 LENA (quietly}. Hanns, your home is with us. 
 
 HANNS (mock-serious}. What! Do you think I could 
 bear to live with you two old fogies? 
 
 SECOND BOY. Hanns is coming to stay with me to- 
 night. Come on, Hanns ; we sha'n't catch the 
 others up if we don't hurry. Oh that's our 
 torch. (He makes a dash at the torch before 
 the empty shrine}. Why, the Virgin's gone! 
 Fancy putting a lighted torch before an empty 
 shrine! (He rejoins HANNS, whose right arm
 
 ACT IV. 87 
 
 he takes in his left, holding the torch aloft 
 
 in his right hand}. 
 HANNS. Goodbye! 
 HANNS and SECOND BOY go out. 
 
 The stage is almost in darkness. LENA and HOWARD 
 embrace. 
 
 LENA. He is right. (Pause}. 
 
 HOWARD (quietly}. But we are right, too. 
 
 The Song of the Pathfinders lingers momentarily and 
 then dies away. 
 
 CURTAIN. 
 
 September, 1921.
 
 38433 
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed.
 
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