I'm not sayin' it. I just ask. I ask because I want to know! But we must understand each other rightly! 'Tis true! Don't let's talk round about the thing we want to know, or play hide an' seek.--You're not afraid that I don't mean well? [_ROSE shakes her head vigorously._] An 'twould be strange if you did. That's settled then. You used to play with my little Kurt. You two grew up together until it pleased God to take my only child.--An' that very time your mother died too an' I remember--she was lyin' on her deathbed--that she was askin' me that I might, if possible, look after you a bit. ROSE [_Staring straight before her._] The best thing for me would be to jump into the river! If things is that way ... God forgive me the sin! MRS. FLAMM If things are that way? How? I don't understand you! You might well speak a bit more clearly.--In the first place, I'm a woman myself, an' it won't astonish me. An' then--I've been a mother myself, even if I have no children now. Lass, who knows what's wrong with you? I've been watchin' you for weeks an' weeks; maybe you didn't notice anything, but now I want you to come out with the truth.--Wheel me over to that chest o' drawers. [_ROSE obeys her._] So! Here in these drawers are old things--a child's clothes an' toys. They were Kurt's ... Your mother said to me once: My Rose, she'll be a mother o' children! But her blood is a bit too hot!--I don't know. Maybe she was right. [_She takes a large doll from one of the drawers._] Do you see? Things may go as they want to in this world, but a mother is not to be despised.--You and Kurt used to play with this doll. 'Twas you mainly that took care o' her, washed her, fed her, gave her clean linen, an' once--Flamm happened to come up--you put her to your breast.--You brought those flowers this morning, didn't you? The forget-me-nots in the little dish yonder? An' you put flowers on Kurt's grave o' Sunday. Children an' graves--they're women's care. [_She has taken a little child's linen shift from the drawer, she unfolds it, holding it by the sleeves, and speaks from behind it._] Didn't you, Rosie? An' I thank you for it, too. Your father, you see, he's busy with his missionary meetin's an' his Bible lessons an' such things. All people are sinners here, says he, an' he wants to make angels of 'em. It may be that he's right, but I don't understand those things. I've learned one thing in this world, an' that is what it is to be a mother an' how a mother is blessed with sorrows. _ROSE overwhelmed and moaning has sunk down beside MRS. FLAMM and kisses the latter's hands again and again in gratitude and as a sign of confession._ MRS. FLAMM