It'll be Ansorge comin' home. _Enter FRITZ, a little, barefooted, ragged boy of four._ FRITZ [_Whimpering._] I'm hungry, mother. EMMA Wait, Fritzel, wait a bit! Gran'father'll be here very soon, an' he's bringin' bread along with him, an' coffee too. FRITZ But I'm awful hungry, mother. EMMA Be a good boy now, Fritz. Listen to what I'm tellin' you. He'll be here this minute. He's bringin' nice bread an' nice corn-coffee; an' when we stops workin' mother'll take the tater peelin's and carry them to the farmer, and the farmer'll give her a drop o' good buttermilk for her little boy. FRITZ Where's grandfather gone? EMMA To the manufacturer, Fritz, with a web. FRITZ To the manufacturer? EMMA Yes, yes, Fritz, down to Dreissiger's at Peterswaldau. FRITZ Is it there he gets the bread? EMMA Yes; Dreissiger gives him money, and then he buys the bread. FRITZ Does he give him a heap of money? EMMA [_Impatiently._] Oh, stop that chatter, boy. [_She and BERTHA go on weaving for a time, and then both stop again._ BERTHA August, go and ask Ansorge if he'll give us a light. [_AUGUST goes out accompanied by FRITZ._ MOTHER BAUMERT [_Overcome by her childish apprehension, whimpers._] Emma! Bertha! where c'n the man be stay-in'? BERTHA Maybe he looked in to see Hauffe. MOTHER BAUMERT [_Crying._] What if he's sittin' drinkin' in the public-house? EMMA Don't cry, mother! You know well enough father's not the man to do that. MOTHER BAUMERT [_Half distracted by a multitude of gloomy forebodings._] What ... what ... what's to become of us if he don't come home? if he drinks the money, an' don't bring us nothin' at all? There's not so much as a handful o' salt in the house--not a bite o' bread, nor a bit o' wood for the fire. BERTHA Wait a bit, mother! It's moonlight just now. We'll take August with us and go into the wood and get some sticks. MOTHER BAUMERT Yes, an' be caught by the forester. _ANSORGE, an old weaver of gigantic stature, who has to bend down to get into the room, puts his head and shoulders in at the door. Long, unkempt hair and beard._ ANSORGE What's wanted? BERTHA Light, if you please. ANSORGE [_In a muffled voice, as if speaking' in a sick-room._] There's good daylight yet. MOTHER BAUMERT Is we to sit in the dark next? ANSORGE I've to do the same mayself. [_Goes out._ BERTHA It's easy to see that he's a miser. EMMA Well, there's nothin' for it but to sit an' wait his pleasure. _Enter MRS. HEINRICH, a woman of thirty, heavy with child; an expression of torturing anxiety and apprehension on her worn face._ MRS. HEINRICH Good evenin' t'you all. MOTHER BAUMERT Well, Jenny, and what's your news? MRS. HEINRICH [_Who limps._] I've got a piece o' glass into my foot. BERTHA Come an' sit down, then, an' I'll see if I c'n get it out. [_MRS. HEINRICH seats herself, BERTHA kneels down, in front of her, and examines her foot._ MOTHER BAUMERT