[_With self-repression._] No! Not entirely, mother, I must say frankly. I've got a kind of a ... just to-day ... it comes over me ... the blood, you know ... it seems to go to my head suddenly, once in a while. It's like a ... it's horrible, too ... like an attack of dizziness! I suppose I'll have to ... at least, I think I'll have to take the air a bit. But it's nothing of importance, mother. So don't worry. MRS. FLAMM [_Looking at him through her spectacles._] And where do you want to go with your cartridge belt? FLAMM Nowhere! What did I want to do with the cartridge belt? [_He hurls the belt aside which he has involuntarily picked up._] One learns nothing ... is kept in the dark about everything! And then a point comes where one suddenly feels blind and stupid ... and a stranger ... an utter stranger in this world. MRS. FLAMM [_Suspiciously._] Will you tell me, Christie, the meanin' of all this? FLAMM It hasn't any, mother--not the slightest ... none at all, in fact. And I'm quite clear in my head again, too--quite! Only now and then a feeling comes over me, a kind of terror, all of a sudden, I don't know how ... and I feel as if there were no solid footing under me any longer, and as if I were going to crash through and break my neck. MRS. FLAMM 'Tis strange things you are saying to-day, Christie. [_A knocking is heard at the door._] Who's knocking there? Come in! AUGUST [_Still behind the scenes._] 'Tis only me, Mrs. Flamm. _FLAMM withdraws rapidly into his den._ MRS. FLAMM Oh, 'tis you, Mr. Keil. Just step right in. _AUGUST KEIL appears on the scene. He is paler than formerly, more emaciated and wears dark glasses. His left eye is hidden by a black patch._ AUGUST I have come, Mrs. Flamm, to bring Rose's excuses to you. Good-day, Mrs. Flamm. MRS. FLAMM Good-day to you, Mr. Keil. AUGUST My betrothed had to go to the county court to-day, or she would ha' come herself. But she'll be comin' in this evenin'. MRS. FLAMM I'm real pleased to get a chance to see you. How are you getting on? Sit down. AUGUST God's ways are mysterious! An' when His hand rests heavy on us, we mustn't complain. On the contrary, we must rejoice. An' I tell you, Mrs. Flamm, that's almost the way I'm feelin' nowadays. I'm content. The worse things gets, the gladder I am. 'Tis layin' up more an' more treasures in heaven. MRS. FLAMM [_Taking a deep and difficult breath._] I trust you are right, Mr. Keil.--Did Rose get my letters? AUGUST She gave them to me to read. An' I told her, it wouldn't do--that she'd have to go to see you now. MRS. FLAMM I must tell you, Keil, I'm surprised that, after all these recent happenin's, she never once found her way here. She knows that she'll find sympathy here. AUGUST