Page:Poet Lore, volume 35, 1924.pdf/354

 steadily on your estate. Give up everything that is needlessly taking your money and your time.

Dr. Svoboda.—And that is?

Broz.—Your representative mandate, your three month’s visit to Prague, your village magistracy, and your office in the Farmer’s Savings Bank.

Dr. Svoboda.—And further

Broz.—Furthermore, limit your countless expenses, and try to show the members of your family how to reduce theirs.

Dr. Svoboda.—So I stand on the very verge of ruin, and only a complete change in the management of my affairs can save me. (Hotly, as though to himself.) So you see, my friend, how my fondest hopes have remained unfulfilled, and how the tide of fortune has turned against me. My dream can never be realized. From a struggling Bohemian student, I kept on rising until I became a noted physician and professor in Prague. I acquired a famous reputation, and the money poured in. Had I but remained in Vienna, I might today be a man of great wealth. But something kept drawing me back to the land of my fathers, and I became possessed of the desire to have a castle with a great estate. And for this crazy reason: to be the master over all I surveyed, to live in the seat of one of the oldest and best known Bohemian families, and to finally help decide the destinies of my country. Who can believe me, who can feel and understand the wondrous fascination of the idea, the charm with which it held me!

Broz.—It was a beautiful and fond ambition,—that I can readily understand!

Dr. Svoboda.—I actually succeeded in realizing my ambition. From that moment forth, I lived here as one lives in a dream. And see, today I hear from your lips the truth,—that my roof is caving in over my head, and the floor is about to sink under my feet. This is terrible!

Broz.—Energy and good management can yet save the situation.

Dr. Svoboda.—You are right. I must make amends for my remissness in the past. It is not I alone whom this affects, but my wife, my children!

Broz.—Splendid! Splendid! That is right, doctor! Just depend on me! We will see you through together. (Enter the .)

Dr. Svoboda (Irritably).—Now what has happened?