"Until tomorrow" are the farewell words of the young cavalry captain as he leaves Victoire de Carayon in her salon on Beriner Behrenstrasse. However, he does not return the next day or on any of the following days. When Victoire's mother learns that she is expecting a child, all her efforts are directed towards legitimizing the relationship. Schach, a man of honor and duty, hesitates in his vanity to marry the "beauty who has gone through purgatory." The end comes swiftly. After the marriage is personally ordered by the king, Schach leaves his wife once more with the words "Until tomorrow." Yet, there is no tomorrow for him. He takes his own life before he reaches his apartment. The immediate shift from happiness to despair, from inner peace to outer destruction creates a drama of suffocating relentlessness.