Oh, I am afraid of you!

_Hedwig:_

Afraid of the truth, you mean. You see it at last in all its brutal
bareness. Poor little Minna! [_She puts her arm around Minna with
sudden tenderness._] But you need not be afraid of me, little Minna. Oh,
no. The trouble with me is I want no more war. Franz is at the war. I'm
half mad with dreaming they have killed him. Any moment I may hear. If
you loved your man as I do mine, little Minna, you'd understand.' Well,
go now, and to-morrow say good-by to your husband--of a day.

[_Minna, with a frightened backward glance, runs out the door.

Arno, who has been talking in low tones to his mother, now rises._]

_Arno:_

Well, Mother, I haven't much time.

[_She clings to his hand._]

_Hedwig:_ [_Starting._]

Arno!

_Arno:_

I am going, too. Get those little things for me, Mother, will you?

_Mother:_ [_Goes to door and calls._]

Amelia! Come. Arno has been called. [_Amelia comes in. Each in turn
embraces him, sadly, but bravely. Then the mother and sister gather
together handkerchiefs, linen, writing-pad and pencil, and small
necessaries._]

_Arno:_

I have only a few minutes.

_Hedwig:_ [_Tenderly._]

Arno, my little brother, oh, why--why must you go? You seem so young.

_Arno:_

I'm a man, like the others; don't forget that, Hedwig. Be brave--to
help me to be brave.

[_They sit on the settle._]

_Hedwig:_ [_Sighing._]

Yes, it cannot be helped. Will you see my Franz, Arno? You look so like
him to-day--the day I first saw him in the fields, the day of the
factory picnic. It seems long ago. Tell him how happy he made me, and
how I loved him. He didn't believe in this war no more than I, yet he
had to go. He dreaded lest he meet his friends on the other side. You
remember those two young men from across the border? They worked all one
winter side by side in the factory with Franz. They went home to join
their regiments when the war was let loose on us. He never could stand
it, Franz couldn't, if he were ordered to drive his bayonet into them.
[_Gets up, full of emotion that is past expression._] Oh, it is too
monstrous! And for what--for what?

_Arno:_

It is our duty. We belong to the fatherland. I would willingly give my
life for my country.

_Hedwig:_

I would willingly give mine for peace.

_Arno:_

I must go. Good-by, Hedwig.

_Hedwig:_ [_Controlling her emotion as she kisses him._]

Good-by, my brave, splendid l