William! William! [_Comes back_.] He is gone! And the storm is getting worse. A fog below, and the thunderstorm above coming nearer. And another one is coming on from the Brandsberg. And Ulrich outside, and none of the children at home. And I all alone in this solitary hunter's house in the midst of the forest, and at such an hour of the night! [_A door is heard slamming; she starts up_.] Merciful God! It is he! If he should look into the room and should not see Mary! Or-- SCENE IV _Enter the_ FORESTER _in haste; pale and distracted_; SOPHY. SOPHY (_going to meet him_). Back already?--[_Correcting herself_] at last? FORESTER (_looking shyly about_). Did anybody ask for me? SOPHY. No. Are they pursuing you? FORESTER. Who? SOPHY. Godfrey-- FORESTER. Why? SOPHY. Because you come in as if you were being hunted. FORESTER. I meant the soldiers.--Why do I see Mary everywhere! In the Dell-- SOPHY (_is frightened_). In the Dell! [_Aside_.] Good Heavens! FORESTER. And all the way back I heard her walking behind me. SOPHY. On your way back-- FORESTER. Whenever I walked, I heard her behind me; whenever I stood still, she also stood still, but I did not look around. SOPHY (_relieved_). You did not look around? FORESTER. Why, I knew it was nothing. I have a feeling as though even now she were still standing behind me. SOPHY (_wishes to divert him from the subject_). Did you shoot anything? Is it outside? FORESTER (_shuddering involuntarily_). Outside? SOPHY. Before the door. What a strange look you give me! What is that on your clothes? FORESTER (_turns away involuntarily_). What is it? SOPHY. A spot-- FORESTER. What you see-- SOPHY. Why will you not let me see it? FORESTER. It is nothing. [_Turns to the table at the right, takes down his gun_.] Is the soup warm? My tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth. SOPHY (_takes a plate and spoon from the closet, goes to the stove where she pours out the soup_). If he should look into the room! What I ask, I ask only in anxiety to have him forget about Mary. [_She puts the soup before the_ FORESTER _on the table to the right; listens_.] Isn't there a noise in the room? [_Walks about the_ FORESTER'S _chair, so as to distract him_.] Ulrich, don't you think that Robert could still restore the old friendly relations? [FORESTER _makes a movement_.] SOPHY. Why do you start so? FORESTER. Don't wake up Mary! Wasn't there some one at the window? SOPHY. That is the old rose-bush outside, which is always nodding so anxiously and knocking at the window, as if it had to prevent a catastrophe, and nobody paid any attention to it. [_Pause; aside_.] It is so still. I must keep on talking, otherwise he can hear me breathing, and will notice my anxiety--and also that he may not hear Mary when she climbs in at the window. [_Listening repeatedly_.] The whole evening I have been thinking about it. Only yesterday Robert said to me-- FORESTER. Always Robert--