High Treason and Low Comedy. Robert T. O’Keeffe

      UMANITZKY: Confirmations of receipts from known espionage cover-addresses in the Hague and Lausanne.

      CONRAD: From which countries?

      UNMANITZKY: Russia, France, Serbia, and Italy.

      CONRAD: Italy too?* Who’s the man?

      UMANITZKY (haltingly): He is —— is ——

      CONRAD: The devil take you! I want to know who the man is!

      UMANITZKY: Colonel Redl.

      CONRAD (screaming): Who? What? Have you lost your mind! Do you realize whom you’re accusing here? Stand at attention!

      UMANITZKY: Your Excellency!

      CONRAD: Forgive me —— Colonel Redl? Are you certain?

      UMANITZKY: Definitely, completely certain.

      * Although a member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, Italy’s reliability in the case of war was doubted, especially by Conrad, who constantly urged a pre-emptive strike against Italy.

      Suicide is commanded

      CONRAD: For God’s sake, for God’s sake! What’s the old Emperor going to say? He put so much stock in Redl.

      SALVATOR (secretively): Aha, perhaps the Emperor is also involved in this.

      CONRAD: If the world gets wind of this—our allies—the Reichsrat—horrible!—Not a single soul is to know of this—

      UMANITZKY: But, Excellency, it can’t remain a secret, not if Redl is taken into custody.

      CONRAD (with decisiveness): We can’t allow him to be taken into custody. He has to die tonight.

      SALVATOR: Of course, a fellow like this one has to hanged!

      CONRAD: Thinking it over, of course, he himself should ... have I made myself understood?

      UMANITZKY: At your command, Excellency, suicide.

      SALVATOR: For God’s sake, you can’t just go grasping after suicide! Suicide is strictly forbidden by our religion. At least you have to send the rotten swine a priest for his soul, then you can string him up.

      CONRAD: Have I made myself understood?

      UMANITZKY: At your command, Excellency.

      CURTAIN

      Collapse

      ACT V

      HARAKIRI

      (Redl’s darkened hotel room)

      REDL (he enters, turns on the light, collapses into a chair): It’s all blown away! (He slowly sits up straight and lays his military cap aside.) Adieu, you cap with your cockade! (He unfastens his sword.) They’re going to break you in half. (He looks at his decorations, touches the military stars on his collar, and then tears off his overcoat.) Away with it! (There’s a soft knock on the door, he pulls himself together.) You’re already here? (There’s another knock. He tries to call out “Enter”, but only makes an inarticulate sound.)

      FRANZI (she opens the door): Please forgive me, Herr Colonel ...

      REDL: Who’s there?

      FRANZI: It’s me, Herr Colonel.

      REDL: Oh yes, excuse me, young woman. (He quickly pulls his coat back on. Franzi remains standing at the door.) Please, come right in.

      FRANZI: Herr Colonel, I’ve come to request something from you.

      REDL: “To request something from you”! Somebody comes to request something from me! (He laughs hysterically.)

      Two hours are a long time

      FRANZI (startled): Are you sick, Herr Colonel?

      REDL: Yes, sick. Just a little bit sick, it’s only a lethal illness. But, what ... (he pulls himself together) How may I be of service to you, my dear young woman?

      FRANZI: I’ve come here from Stefan. He’s made all his preparations for the trip.

      REDL: For the trip?

      FRANZI: Yes, he told me that he’s taking a trip with you ...

      REDL: Taking a trip with me?

      FRANZI: He told me all about it, he didn’t hide anything —— he said he’d given you his word of honor.

      REDL: Yes, he did give his word of honor. But that was a long time ago, a frightfully long time ago.

      FRANZI: No, it was just two hours ago, right after I left here.

      REDL: Two hours ago! ... Two hours is a long, long time, my dear young woman. You don’t realize what can happen in two hours, two hours is the difference between supreme good luck and the worst misfortune, two hours suffice to split up a beautiful blooming tree into firewood —— is it really only two hours since you were last here?

      Tell Stefan I send him my greetings

      FRANZI: Yes. And I learned something too during those two hours. I’ve behaved badly, I demanded things when I should have been begging a favor from you. I should have presented myself to you for what I am, a weak young woman, a woman who doesn’t have anything else in the world besides him, besides my fine, dear Stefan, and I can’t live without him. I should have thrown myself down at your feet (here she kneels down) and begged of you: Let me have my Stefan. You’re a very big man, Herr Colonel, you enjoy the respect and trust of others, you’ve got the brightest of futures, thousands envy you your good fortune, yes thousands ...

      (With a quick glance Redl sees that Franzi is kneeling down. He reacts to her words with a perplexed laugh, which, when he hears “good fortune”, turns into a burst of sobbing. He staggers.)

      FRANZI (she jumps up, startled; she props him up): For heaven’s sake, what’s going on with you?

      REDL (after pausing): It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it —— I’m not going to stand in your way. Stefan won’t ever see me again. Tell him I send him my greetings, that I wish him better luck than I’ve had, tell him ...

      FRANZI: What’s the matter, Herr Colonel? What’s happened to you?

      REDL: ... tell him that I was thinking of him right up until the very last minute ...

      FRANZI: What do you mean to do? —— Look, Herr Colonel, I’m only a woman, and I know that you despise women, though I don’t know what’s behind your desperation right now —— but I want to say something to you: an hour ago I realized that my Stefan had made a decision for you and that he wanted to get away from me — then, just for a second, the thought came to me that maybe it would be better if I did away with myself. But in that same instant I also knew that’s not the right way for a decent hu- man being to go. As long as you can work and love there’s no

       It’s too late

      need for you to die. And that goes for you too, Herr Colonel. (She takes his sword.) What kind of a thing is this for men to make, a thing made to wound others? (She picks up his cap.) Why do you wear the monogram of other men on your head? (She points to his military overcoat.) Why do you wear somebody’s livery, like a lackey. (She fingers the decorations on his coat.) Why do you wear these tinplate awards, like some kind of prize-winning animal? If it’s life you want to pursue rather than death, and if all these things oppress you, then throw them all away! Whether you sweep streets or clean up canals, that’s far more honorable work than recruiting spies and unmasking spies!

      REDL: I thank you for that, my dear young woman. Unfortunately, it’s too late for that now.

      FRANZI: It’s never too late.

      REDL: Perhaps you’re right. But summoning up courage won’t help me now. I must ask you to please leave now, my dear young woman.

      FRANZI: