[_Sits down and claps his flat hands over his knees._] For goodness' sake! Don't carry on so! D'you think I'll be goin' about everywhere an' tellin' what I know an' rakin' you over the coals? How does it concern me, I'd like to know, what your goin's on are? ROSE I'll go home an' hang myself on a beam! That's what Mary Schubert did too. STRECKMANN That was a different thing with her! That girl had different things on her conscience! An' I didn't have nothin' to do with her.--But if every woman was to go an' hang herself on account o' what you've done--there wouldn't be no more women in this world. That sort o' thing happens wherever you look--everywhere--that's the way things is. O' course, I have to laugh. That father o' yours, he carries himself so high! The way he stares at a feller that's gone a bit off the narrow way. It's enough to make you want to go an' hide your face. Well--people ought to begin at home ... ROSE [_Trembling in the terror of her heart._] O dear Lord, have mercy! STRECKMANN Can you deny that I'm right? You people stick in piety up to the very eyes--your father an' August Keil an' you too! A feller like me can't compete with you there. ROSE [_With a new outburst of despair._] It's a lie ... a lie! You saw nothing! STRECKMANN No? Saw nothing? Well, I'll be...! Then I must ha' been dreamin'. That's what it must ha' been! If that wasn't Squire Flamm from Diessdorf! I haven't had a drop o' anythin' to-day. Didn't he play at drivin' you by the braids o' your hair? Didn't he throw you into the grass? [_With uncontrollable, hard laughter._] He had a good hold on you! ROSE Streckmann, I'll beat your head in with my hoe! STRECKMANN [_Still laughing._] Listen to that! What now? You're not goin' to cut up so rough! Why shouldn't you ha' done it? I don't blame you. First come, first served: that's the way o' the world. ROSE [_Weeping and moaning in her helpless grief and yet working convulsively._] A feller like that, presumes to ...! STRECKMANN [_Enraged and brutally._] It's you that presumes! 'Tisn't me that does! Not that I'd mind presumin' a good deal. If Flamm's good enough, it's certain that I am! ROSE [_Sobbing and crying out in her despair._] I've been a decent girl all my life long! Let anybody come an' say somethin' against me if he can! I took care o' three little brothers an' sisters! Three o'clock in the mornin' I've gotten up, an' not so much as taken a drop o' milk! An' people knows that! Every child knows it! STRECKMANN Well, you needn't make such a noise about it! The bells is ringin' and the people is comin' from church. You might be a bit sociable with a feller. You people are just burstin' with pride. Maybe it's true ... things look as if it was. I'm not sayin' but what you're a good worker an' a good saver. But otherwise you're no better'n other folks. ROSE [_Gazing into the distance; in extreme fear._] Isn't that August that's comin' there? STRECKMANN