I can prove it an' I will. There are not many people in this room that don't know it as well as I. That there woman is on an evil way. 'Tis no fault o' mine, an' I wouldn't ha' mentioned it. But I'm not goin' to let you strike me. I'm no liar. I always speaks the truth! Ask it of anybody! Ask Mr. Siebenhaar here on his honour an' conscience! The sparrows is twitterin' it on every roof--an' worse things 'n that! SIEBENHAAR Think over what you're saying carefully, Walther. WALTHER He forces me to it! Why don't he let me go? Why is I to suffer for other people? You know it all as well as I? How did you used to stand with Henschel in other years when his first wife was alive? D'you think people don't know that? An' now you don't cross his threshold. SIEBENHAAR The relations between us are our private affair. And I will not permit remark or interference. WALTHER All right. But if first his wife dies, though she's as well as anybody, an' when Gustel goes an' dies eight weeks later, then, I'm thinkin' it's more'n a private affair! HENSCHEL What?--Hanne is to come! _MRS. HENSCHEL enters suddenly and quickly, just as she has come from her work and still drying her hands._ MRS. HENSCHEL What're you roarin' about so? HENSCHEL 'Tis well that you're here.--This man here says-- MRS. HENSCHEL [_Makes a movement as if to go._] Damned rot that it ... HENSCHEL You're to stay here! MRS. HENSCHEL Are you all drunk together? What're you thinkin' of, anyhow? D'you think I'm goin' to stay here an' play monkey tricks for you? [_She is about to go._ HENSCHEL Hanne, I advise you ... This man here says ... MRS. HENSCHEL Aw, he c'n say what he wants to, for all I cares! HENSCHEL He says that you deceive me before my face an' behind my back! MRS. HENSCHEL What? What? What? What? HENSCHEL That's what he says! Is he goin' to dare to say that? An' that ... my wife ... MRS. HENSCHEL Me? Lies! Damned lies! [_She throws her apron over her face and rushes out._ HENSCHEL That I ... that my wife ... that we together ... that our Gustel ... 'Tis well! 'Tis well! [_He releases WALTHER'S hand and lets his head sink, moaning, on the table._ WALTHER I won't be made out a liar here. THE CURTAIN FALLS. THE FIFTH ACT _The same room as in the first three acts. It is night, but the moonlight throws a moderate brightness into the room. It is empty. Several days have passed since the occurrences in the fourth act._ _A candle is lit in the small adjoining room; at the end of a few seconds HENSCHEL enters, carrying the candle in a candlestick of tin. He wears leathern breeches but his feet are cased in bedroom slippers. Slowly he approaches the table, gazes hesitatingly first backward, then toward the window, finally puts the candlestick on the table and sits down by the window. He leans his chin on his hand and stares at the moon._ MRS. HENSCHEL