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girl.” “Lordy, you, Franz.” “Open that door.” Rumbledy, bumbledy, bumbledy, bee. Rumbledy. A piece of twine on my tongue; got to spit it out. He is standing in the hallway, she shuts the door behind him. “Whatche want here” Suppose somebody seen you on the stairs.” “Too bad, eh. Let ‘em see me. Howdy.” He walks along to the left, swings into the room. Rumbledy, bumbledy. That piece of twine on my tongue won’t come off. He scrapes it with his fingers. But it’s nothing, just a lousy feeling on the tip of my tongue. So that’s the room, the stiff-backed sofa, the Kaiser hanging on the wall, a Frenchman in red trousers giving him his sword. I have surrendered. “What do you want here, Franz? Are you crazy, or what?” “I’ll sit down.” I have surrendered, the Kaiser presents his sword, the Kaiser must return the sword to him, that’s the way the world runs. “If you don’t go, I’ll call for help, I’ll yell murder.” “What for?” Rumbledy, bumbledy, I have run this far, I’m here, I’ll stay. “Have they let you out already?” “Yes, it’s all over.”
    He stares at her and gets up: “Because they let me out that’s why I’m here. They let me out all right, but how?” How, he wants to tell it but chews on his twine, the trumpet is broken, it’s all over, and he trembles, and can’t cry, and looks at her hand. “What do you want now? Is anything wrong?”
    There are mountains that have been standing for centuries, that have always been standing, and armies with guns have gone over them, there are islands, people on them, chock-full, all strong, solid business houses, banks, industry, dancing, dives, import, export, social questions, and one day there starts a rrrrrrrr, rrrr, not from the warship, the rumpus starts all by itself-from down below. The earth gives a jump, nightingale, nightingale, how beautifully you sang, the ships fly to the skies, the birds fall to the earth. “Franz, I’ll yell, let me go. Karl will soon be here. Karl will be here any minute. You started the same way with Ida.”
    What is a woman worth among friends? The London divorce courts, in the suit of Captain Bacon, pronounced a dissolution of his marriage on the ground of his wife’s adultery with Captain Furber, a fellow-officer, and granted him £750 damages. The captain does not seem to have put too high a value on his faithless wife, who is soon going to get married to her lover.
    Oh, there are mountains that have been lying quiet for myriads of years, and armies with guns and elephants have gone over them, what is one to do, when they suddenly start to caper, because down below there’s a noise that goes: rrrr, rumm. Don’t let’s say anything about that, let’s leave it alone. Minna cannot get her hand away from him, and his eyes look into hers. The face of a man like that is laid with rails, a train passes over it, see the smoke, it passes along, Berlin-Hamburg-Altona express, 6.05 till 9.35, three hours and thirty-five minutes, can’t do anything about it, the arms of a man like that are made of iron, iron. I’ll call for help. She screamed. She was lying on the carpet now. His stubby cheek against hers: his mouth greedily fumbles up towards hers, she turns away. “Franz, Oh God, have pity, Franz.” And-she saw it all right.
    Now she knows, she is Ida’s sister, that’s the way he looked at Ida sometimes. He has Ida in his arms, it’s she, that’s why he has his eyes closed and looks happy now. And there is no longer the terrible fighting and this moping about, it’s no longer prison! It’s Treptow, Paradiesgarten, with a display of fireworks, where he met her and brought her home, the little seamstress, she had won a vase at dice shooting; in the hallway, with her key in her hand, he had kissed her for the first time, she stood on tiptoe, she had canvas shoes on, he dropped the key, after that he could not tear himself away from her. That’s good old Franz Biberkopf.
    And now