Your implied threat that you will take your own life in case your flight is not made feasible has--to speak frankly, Moritz,--rather taken me aback. No matter how undeserved a misfortune may be, we should never let ourselves be driven to ignoble measures. The way in which you seem to wish to make me--who have never shown you anything but kindness--answerable for a possible shocking outrage on your part, might, to a person inclined to think evil, look very much like blackmail. I must confess that this mode of acting from you, who usually are so well aware of what a man owes himself, was the very last I should have expected. For the present, I cherish the firm conviction that you were still suffering too much from the first shock to be able to realize fully what you were doing. And so I am confidently hoping that these words of mine will find you already in a more composed state of mind. Take the affair as it stands. To my way of thinking, it is wholly inadmissible that a young man should be judged by his school marks. We have too many examples of very bad scholars who have become remarkable men, and conversely of excellent scholars who have not distinguished themselves in life. In any case I assure you that so far as I am concerned your mishap will not cause any change in your relations with Melchior. It will always give me pleasure to see my son in the company of a young man who--let the world judge of him as it will--deserved and won not only his but my most cordial sympathy. And so--up with your chin, Moritz Stiefel! Such crises, of this kind or of that, come upon us all and must just be got over. If everyone so placed should snatch forthwith at dagger and poison, there might easily soon be no more men and women in the world. Let us hear from you soon again, and believe me cordially and steadfastly Your maternal friend, FANNY G. CURTAIN SCENE VI.--_The_ BERGMANN _Garden in the radiance of the morning sun_. WENDLA--[_Discovered._] Why have you stolen out of the house?--To look for violets!--Because mother sees me smiling.--And why can’t you stop, and shut your lips tight any more?--I don’t know.--Oh, I don’t know--I can’t find words.... The path is like a plush carpet underfoot--not one little stone, not a thorn.--My feet don’t touch the ground.... Oh, how I did sleep last night. Here’s where they used to be. [_Kneels._] They make me feel as solemn as a nun at communion.--Dear violets!--All right, motherling! I’ll put on my penitence-dress!--Oh, God, if somebody would only come whom I could hug and tell! CURTAIN SCENE VII.--_Twilight. The sky is lightly overcast. The path winds through low growth and sedgegrass. Not far away the river sounds._ MORITZ _sits facing the audience, his back to some bushes and the path_.