No, no; we c'n talk about it a bit. You see, I know 'tis all my fault--I know that, an' with that we can let it be. But before I went an' took this woman--Hanne, I mean--before that it all began ... slowly it began, slowly--but downhill right along. First thing, a good bonehandled whip broke. After that, I remember it right well, I drove over my dog an' he died. 'Twas the best little dog I had. Then, one right after another, three o' my horses died; an' one of 'em was the fine stallion that cost me five hundred crowns. An' then, last of all ... my wife died. I noticed it well enough in my own thoughts that fate was against me. But when my wife went away from me, I had a minute in my own mind when I thought to myself: Now it's enough. There's not much else that c'n be taken from me.

But you see, there was somethin' else.--I don't want to talk about Gustel. A man loses first his wife an' then a child--that's common. But no: a snare was laid for me an' I stepped into it.

SIEBENHAAR

Who laid a snare for you?

HENSCHEL

Maybe the devil; maybe, too, somebody else. It's throttlin' me--that's certain.

[_Pause._]

SIEBENHAAR

That's a most unhappy notion of yours ...

HENSCHEL

An' I'm denyin' nothin'. A bad man I've come to be, only it's no fault o'

mine. I just, somehow, stumbled into it all. Maybe it's my fault too. You c'n say so if you want to. Who knows? I should ha' kept a better watch.

But the devil is more cunnin' than me. I just kept on straight ahead.

SIEBENHAAR

Henschel, you're just your own worst enemy. You're fighting phantoms which have no existence at any time or place. The devil has done nothing to you, nor have you stepped into any snare. And no one is throttling you either. That is all nonsense. And such fancies are dangerous.

HENSCHEL

We'll see; we c'n wait an' see.

SIEBENHAAR

Well, tell me something definite. You won't be able to do it, however you try. You are neither bad, as you say, nor are you burdened by any guilt.

HENSCHEL

Ah, I know better.

SIEBENHAAR

Well, what is your guilt?

HENSCHEL

Here stood the bed. An' she was lyin' in it. An' here I gave her my promise. I gave her my promise an' I've broken it!

SIEBENHAAR

What promise was that?

HENSCHEL

You know well enough!--I broke it an' when I did that, I was lost. I was done for. The game was up.--An' you see: now she can't find no rest.

SIEBENHAAR

Are you speaking of your dead wife?

HENSCHEL

'Tis of her, of her exackly that I'm speakin'. She can't find no rest in the grave. She comes an' she goes an' she finds no rest.--I curry the horses; there she stands. I take a sieve from the feed-bin, an' I see her sittin' behind the door. I mean to go to bed in the little room; 'tis she that's lyin' in the bed an' lookin' at me.--She's hung a watch aroun' my neck; she knocks at the wall; she scratches on the panes.--She puts her finger on my breast an' I'm that smothered, I has to gasp for air. No, no, I know best. You got to go through a thing like that before you know what it is. You can't tell about It. I've gone through a deal--you c'n believe me.

SIEBENHAAR

Henschel, this is my last word to you: Gather all the strength you have in you; plant yourself firmly on both legs. Go and consult a physician.

Tell yourself that you are ill, very ill, but drive these phantoms away.

They are mere cobwebs of the brain, mere fancies.

HENSCHEL

That's what you said that there time, too. Just so or somethin' like it you said.

SIEBENHAAR

Very likely, and I'm willing to stand by it now. What you did in the matter of your marriage, it was your entire right to do. There was no question of any sin or guilt.

_WERMELSKIRCH steps forward._

WERMELSKIRCH

Henschel, come over to me. We'll light the gas and play cards. We'll drink beer or whatever you want to and smoke a pipe with it; then the ghosts can come if they want to. In two hours it will be bright daylight.

Then we can drink some coffee and take a walk. The devil is in this if you can't be made to be your old self again.

HENSCHEL

Maybe so; we c'n try it all right.

WERMELSKIRCH

Well then, come along.

HENSCHEL

I won't go to your place no more.

WERMELSKIRCH

On account of that little nonsense the other day? That was only a misunderstanding. And all that has been cleared up. I simply won't let Hauffe come in any more. The fellow is always drunk; that's a fact.