We have a full hour more. Have they all gone to bed?
No, no; here is something to read! You see, I'm reading myself.
Very well. [_Sits_.] But, George, I would really prefer to go to the depot alone.
[_Softly_.] Marie! [_She shuts her eyes_.] Are you tired? [_She shakes her head_.] One whole hour I will have you all to myself!
Ah, yes; a small pyre of wood--it is soon burned down!
And then it's as dark as ever!!! But, George, how beautifully you spoke this evening! I have never heard anything like it before.
No wonder! It was as though I spoke the words myself--that is, I don't mean to say----
[_After a pause_.] George, I have something to confess to you. In fact, that is why I came down here so soon. You shall know it, you alone. I have this day given my hand----
Why, to the pastor! Who else could it be? There is no one else!
[_Reproachfully_.] Why did you do that? Why did you?
I have my whole life before me, and the fires [_pointing to fields and to heart_] will not burn forever----
[_Bitterly_.] You should not have done it--you--it is a----
[_Bitterly_,] How? Of course, how should I? I don't know! Pardon me! Well, I congratulate you!
But why am I the first one to be taken into your confidence? Why not uncle? We two have not been so intimate as----
No, we two have not been very intimate--I only thought----
So, then, we have both our burden; and we soon will have to part. Therefore we can now safely speak of the past. My manuscript you read! You even went so far as to perjure yourself on account of it. Oh, you don't mind a little thing like that! I wish I were the same! You know the subject of my verses, and we must now understand each other fully. Now, tell me openly, why, why did you treat me so unkindly, to say nothing worse, in former days?
'Tis hardly necessary to remind you of all the indignities you heaped upon me. It almost seemed to me as if you purposely intended to drive me mad. Do you remember the day when I followed you into the cellar, and you turned and ran out and locked the door, and compelled me to remain there all night?
That is very simple. You are Count von Harten--and I?--I am but a poor Lithuanian foundling--aye, worse than that. If you follow such a one into the cellar, she knows, or at least thinks she knows, your purpose.