Intermezzo: A Love Story Page #2

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- I'm so glad.

You did very well.

- Will you play for my party now?

- No.

- Mommy, make Miss Hoffman play, too.

- Would she play for us?

Really, Mrs. Brandt, not now.

Why shouldn't you play?

I want to show off my pupil.

Do play for us. We'd all enjoy it.

Well, maybe they won't listen, anyway.

Isn't that child astonishing?

Frankly, I was amazed.

So was I.

Here, you little monkey.

I want to talk to you.

It's fantastic. The child's become a pianist

since I've been away. I'm sure...

- What are you shushing me for?

- Miss Hoffman.

Miss Hoffman next on the program?

Having a regular concert, aren't we?

When Miss Hoffman finishes, Daddy,

do we play again?

But, Daddy, you promised.

Go on. Why do you stop?

- Bravo!

- Thank you.

- Weren't they wonderful, Mommy?

- Yes, darling, they were.

Someday, I'm going to accompany Daddy

that way.

Of course you are, darling.

I beg your pardon. Why, it's Miss Hoffman.

Look who's here.

- Hello, Miss Hoffman.

- Hello.

- Did you sleep as soundly as I did?

- Charles hates music.

Poor fellow. Has to make his living

out of people like us.

- How are you this evening?

- Thank you, very well.

- Isn't Mrs. Brandt with you?

- No. We had social obligations.

I'm a fugitive from a very

dull dinner party.

What are we going to do?

How about a glass of wine?

- I was going home.

- And so was I. Charles, how about you?

No. Leave me out. After all that music,

I'm ready for my bed.

- Good night, Miss Hoffman, Holger.

- Good night.

We'll have a glass of wine without him.

There must be a caf about.

- It's late for me.

- It's never too late for a glass of wine.

- I adore that part.

- You did like that concert, didn't you?

You have a look in your eye

of someone who has made a feast of music.

- I envied her so.

- You'd like to do that, wouldn't you?

- Be up on that concert stage?

- Yes.

I'll tell you something.

I'd rather it had been you up there playing.

- You're not joking?

- Of course I'm not joking.

Good heavens, what a fool I am!

Of course! Why don't you accompany me?

- Accompany you?

- Yes, on the tour. Take Thomas' place.

- You're not serious?

- I'm perfectly serious.

Why didn't I think of it

the first moment I heard you play?

What are you thinking about?

What do you say?

No, I couldn't do it.

Even if you mean what you say.

But I do mean it. Why couldn't you?

Mr. Stenborg wouldn't forgive me

if I gave up my studies.

Thomas knows that I'm desperately in need

of an accompanist.

He'd be delighted to think

that you're taking his place.

Don't you think it's best for me to stay

and work as hard as I can for a scholarship?

A scholarship? I didn't know.

Now, that's different. In that case,

I think you should stay here and study.

That you would even consider me...

Yes, I know.

You're profoundly honored and all that.

- I am, really.

- I understand.

You know, I'd forgotten all this.

The look one sees on these people's faces.

Yet, it's scarcely any time at all

since I sat in places like this...

with just such boys and girls...

remaking the world to suit ourselves.

Just as they're doing now.

- I would like to have known you then.

- Would you?

You wouldn't have liked me then.

I was poor and awkward.

Much too earnest, worked too hard.

All in all, not a very fetching fellow.

Please don't laugh at me

if I tell you something.

Why should I laugh?

You see...

ever since I first began

to care about music...

- Yes, it seems strange.

- What does?

I had only one idea.

For years I saved every penny I could...

to be able to hear you whenever you played.

Did you? How nice of you to tell me that.

Nice of me?

Think of my being able to tell it to you.

That's what I can't get over.

Here I am, talking to you

as if you were an old friend.

I'm a friend, anyway.

But only a little while ago, I looked at you

from such a distance. And now...

You don't know how fantastic

it seems to me to be here.

Does it?

No. Don't drink any more of that stuff.

Waiter! Bring us some champagne.

- Champagne?

- Yes, champagne's what we need.

A couple of glasses of champagne...

and two strangers

have a rich and happy past.

You know, there comes a night each year...

when one senses

that winter is suddenly over.

Yes, that spring has come.

How I look forward to it

through the dreary months.

Look, there goes the winter now...

broken, rushing to the sea.

Don't you feel when spring comes

that the world is yours just for the asking?

That there's nothing that you couldn't be?

Tonight, I would dare anything.

Or, perhaps, it's only the champagne.

- Do you know what you remind me of?

- No. Tell me.

A Viennese waltz. Smiling but melancholy.

A melody of the days

when Vienna was a happy city.

How poetic you are.

At twilight, in the spring,

the music poured through the caf doors.

Melodies of carefree youth.

It was there I saw you for the first time.

Phantom of a Viennese waltz.

No, I was wrong.

It wasn't there at all that we first met.

It was in Budapest, on a summer's night.

They were playing the Rustle of Spring.

Yes, that was you.

You are far away.

What are you thinking of?

I'm listening to something.

- I don't know what.

- Spring, perhaps.

Yes, perhaps.

- Aren't you giving it too much importance?

- What do you mean?

You were going at it as if it were

the climax of a tremendous symphony.

You'll frighten my neighbors.

I wasn't conscious of it.

I'm thinking of going away.

Are you?

For long?

I have been invited

to visit relatives in Denmark.

- I can stay as long as I want.

- I see.

They won't divert you too much?

You'll be able to study still?

- Lf I like.

- Don't talk as if that weren't important.

You've applied for

that scholarship in Paris.

Yes, of course. If I get it,

I'll just go on straight to Paris.

I'll try to study by myself.

I shall miss your help, but...

You're running away from it all.

Perhaps it's best that way for both of you.

I've been watching Holger suffer, too.

I thought I was going straight to my goal...

thinking of nothing but my work.

- And now...

- Will this be our last lesson?

If you'll excuse me...

I think I ought to go and see Mrs. Brandt.

Certainly.

Certainly, do that.

You're waiting for me to say something

very wise and helpful at this point.

I'll say to you what I've always said

to myself when things seem too difficult:

Courage, my friend.

- Good morning, Miss Hoffman.

- Good morning, Emma.

- You're very early today. I'll call Ann Marie.

- No, please don't.

May I see Mrs. Brandt?

- I think she's upstairs. I'll go and see.

- Thank you.

- Good morning, Miss Hoffman.

- Good morning.

- Emma said you wanted to see me.

- Yes, Mrs. Brandt.

- Won't you sit down?

- Thank you.

I wanted to tell you that

I can't go on giving lessons to Ann Marie.

Why not?

I have been called to Denmark by relatives.

But your own studies?

Your work with Mr. Stenborg?

It seems such a shame

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