[_Exit quickly._

MRS. FLAMM [_Alone. She looks after ROSE, sighs, takes the child's shift from her lap, unfolds it as before and says:_] Ah, la.s.s,'tis a good fortune that you have, not an evil! There's none that's greater for a woman! Hold it fast!

THE CURTAIN FALLS

THE THIRD ACT

_A fertile landscape. In the foreground, to the right, on a triangular piece of greensward slightly below the level of the fields, there stands an old pear tree, at the foot of which a spring empties into a primitive basin of stone. The middle distance is of meadow land. In the background a pool, bordered by reeds and dotted by water plants, lies in a grove of alder trees and bushes of hazelnut, willow and beech. The meadows extend on either side encircled by immemorial oaks, elms, beeches and birch trees. Between the foliage of the trees and bushes the church spires of distant villages are visible. To the left, behind the bushes, arise the thatched roofs of the field barns._

_It is a hot afternoon of early August._

_From afar is heard the hum of the threshing machine. BERND and AUGUST KEIL come from, the right. They are worn out from labour and from the heat. The men are clad only in their shirts, breeches, boots and caps. Each carries a hoe across his shoulder, a scythe in his hand, and carries at his belt a cowherd's horn and whetstone._

BERND

'Tis hot an' to spare to-day. A man must rest a bit! But a feelin' o'

peace comes to you workin' on your own ground.

AUGUST

The trouble is I'm not used to mowin'.

BERND

You went an' did your share right bravely.

AUGUST

Yes, yes! But how long can I do it? All my limbs are twitchin' an'

hurtin' me now.

BERND

You can rest content, my son. A man's got to be used to that kind o'

work. An' in your case 'tis only an exception. But, 's I said, you could well go an' be a gard'ner.

AUGUST

For the s.p.a.ce of a day. On the second I'd collapse. There's no use; I'm but a broken reed. I went to the county physician again. 'Twas the same as always. He just shrugged his shoulders.

BERND

You're well now an' in G.o.d's hands. The most you might do is to put a few rusty nails in water an' drink the rinsings two or three times a week.

That purifies the blood an' strengthens the heart.--I only hope the weather'll keep on this way.

AUGUST

The heat's too terrible. When we were mowin', I thought I heard thunder.

BERND

[_Kneeling down on the edge of the basin and drinking from the surface of the spring._] Water is the best drink for all they say.

AUGUST

How late is it?

BERND

'Tis about four o'clock, I'm wonderin' what keeps Rose with our evenin'

meal. [_He raises his scythe and looks at the blade. AUGUST does the same._] Will you have to sharpen? Mine will do a bit longer.

AUGUST

I can try it this way a while longer.

BERND

[_Throws himself on the gra.s.s under the pear tree._] You'd better come an' sit down by me. An' if, maybe, you got your Testament with you, we might refresh ourselves with the Good Word.

AUGUST

[_Sitting down exhausted and glad to be free._] All I say is: Thanks and praise be to the Lord.

BERND

D'you see, August, I said to you then: Let her be! The la.s.s will find her own way! Now she's come to her senses! In the old days, before your time, often an' often I worried about her. A kind o' stubbornness used to come over her from time to time. An' 'twas always best to let her be!--Sometimes it seemed, as G.o.d lives, as if the la.s.s was runnin'

against a wall--a strong wall that n.o.body else couldn't see, an' as if she had to grope her way around it first.

AUGUST

What got into her that day ... I'm thankin' G.o.d on my knees ... but that day I didn't know what to make of it! Suddenly she--how that came about ...? No, I can't see the rights of it to this day.

BERND

An' how different did she act this time when we went down to the magistrate.

AUGUST

I'm glad that it's no longer Squire Flamm.

BERND

Yes, an' this time she didn't say a word an' in four or five minutes everythin' was straight. That's the way she is. 'Tis the way o' women.