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[The outer office of Dr. Kolonaty, Attorney at Law in a provincial city of the old Austro-Hungarian empire.

''The musty furniture, the accumulation of books and papers and, in particular, the tall document file at the back of the room, whose many pigeonholes are stuffed with the briefs of long-forgotten cases, plainly show that Dr. Kolonaty’s is a comfortably established practice which has passed through several generations of the same family. In the rear is a door o from the outer hallway and, on the left, is another door leading presumably to the inner offices. The clerk, Vitek, whom Dr. Kolonaty inherited along with the furniture and the clientele, has a small, flat-topped desk at the left. On it is a confused mass of maps, proclamations, law briefs; and a telephone. In the center of the room is a double desk and, on the right are several chairs.''

''At the rise of the curtain Vitek is seated on the top of a step-ladder, beside the file. His hands''