r.

_Hertz:_ [_Chuckling._]

Sit in the councils? That would be a joke. I see. Mother, she's a
little--[_Touches his forehead suggestively._] Sit in the councils with
the men and shape the destiny of the nation! Ha! ha!

_Hedwig:_

Laugh, Herr Captain, but the day will come; and then there will be no
more war. No, you will not always keep us here, dumb, silent drudges. We
will find a way.

_Hertz:_ [_Turning to the mother._]

That is what comes of letting Franz go to a factory town, Maria. That is
where he met this girl. Factory towns breed these ideas. [_To Hedwig._]
Well, we'll have none of that here. [_Authoritatively._] Another word
of this kind of insurrection, another word to the women of your
treason, and you will be locked up and take your just punishment. You
remember I had to look out for you in the beginning when you talked
against this war. You're a firebrand, and you know how we handle the
like of you. [_Goes to door, turns to the mother._] I am sorry you have
to have this trouble, Maria, on top of everything else. You don't
deserve it. [_To Hedwig._] You have been warned. Look out for yourself.

[_Hedwig is standing rigid, with difficulty repressing the torrent of
her feelings. Drums are heard coming nearer, and singing voices of men._]

_Amelia:_ [_At door._]

They are passing this way.

_Hedwig:_

Wave to Arno. Come, Mother. Ah, how quickly they go!

[_The official steps out of the door. There is quick rhythm of marching
feet as the departing regiment passes not very far from the house._]

There he is! Wave, Mother. Good-by! good-by!

[_The women stand in the doorway, waving their sad farewells, smiling
bravely. The sounds grow less and less, until there is the usual
silence._]

In another month, in another week, perhaps, all the men will be gone. We
will be a village of women. Not a man left.

[_She leads the old mother into the house once more._]

_Hertz:_ [_In the door._]

What did you say?

_Hedwig:_

Not a man left, I said.

_Hertz:_

You forget. _I_ shall be here.

_Hedwig:_

You are old. You don't count. They think you are only a woman, Herr
Captain.

_Hertz:_ [_Insulted._]

You--you--

_Hedwig:_

Oh, don't take it badly, sir. You are honored. Is the name of woman
always to be despised? Look out in those fields. Who cleared them, and
plucked the vineyards clean? You think we are left at home because we
are weak. Ah, no; we are strong.