MRS. BAUER. [_Putting the dinner on the table._] Come, children. [_To_ BAUER.] Sit down, Fritz.
[_She serves the dinner._ KARL _pulls_ FRITZI _out of his father's chair and pushes him into his own; then he takes his place next to his mother_.
MRS. BAUER. [_To_ BAUER, _who sits looking at his food_.] Eat somethin', Friedrich. [_She sits down._
BAUER. I can't eat nothin'. I'm full up to here.
MRS. BAUER. If you haven't done nothin' wrong, why do you let it worry you so?
FRITZI. [_Suddenly._] Gee, didn't Blacky like liver!
[MRS. BAUER _and_ KARL _look at him warningly_.
MRS. BAUER. [_Fiercely._] You eat your dinner.
BAUER. [_Affectionately, laying his hand on_ FRITZI'S _arm_.] Fritzi.
FRITZI. [_Points toward the inner room._] I'm going to have a gun, too, when I'm a man.
[BAUER _follows_ FRITZI'S _gesture and falls to musing. There is a look of brooding misery on his face._ KARL _nudges_ FRITZI _warningly and watches his father furtively_. BAUER _sits motionless, staring straight ahead of him_.
MRS. BAUER. [_To_ BAUER.] Now drink your coffee.
BAUER. Don't you see, Miene, don't you see?... Nothing makes it right now; no one believes me--no one believes--no one.
MRS. BAUER. What do you care, if you didn't do it?
MRS. BAUER. [_With a searching took at her husband._] Fritzi, when you go on like this, people won't believe you didn't do it. You ought to act like you don't care.... [_She fixes him with a beseeching glance._] If you _didn't_ do it.
[BAUER _looks at his wife as though a hidden meaning to her words had suddenly bitten into his mind_.
BAUER. [_As though to himself._] A man can't stand that. I've gone hungry ... I've been in the hospital ... I've worked when I couldn't stand up hardly....
MRS. BAUER. [_Coaxingly._] Drink your coffee, drink it now, Fritz, while it's hot.
[_He tries to swallow a little coffee and then puts down the cup._
BAUER. I've never asked favors of no man.
MRS. BAUER. If a man hasn't done nothin' wrong it don't matter. Just go ahead like always--if----
MRS. BAUER. [_To the boys._] Get your caps now, it's time to go to school.
[KARL _gets up, passes behind his father and beckons to_ FRITZI _to follow him_.
FRITZI. [_Keeping his seat._] Do we have to go to school?