But it's more than the waiting with Hedwig. Aye, you will help Franz more by staying home to take care of his wife, Amelia, especially now. _Amelia:_ [_Puzzled._] _Now?_ _Mother:_ [_Goes to her work-basket._] Hedwig has told you nothing? _Amelia:_ No. _Mother:_ Ah, she is a strange girl! She asked me to keep it a secret,--I don't know why,--but now I think you should know. See! [_Very proudly she holds up the tiny baby garments she is knitting._] _Amelia:_ [_Pleased and astonished._] So Franz and Hedwig-- _Mother:_ [_Nods._] For their child. In six months now. My first grandchild, Amelia. Franz's boy, perhaps. I shall hear a little one's voice in this house again. _Amelia:_ [_Uncertainly, as she looks at the little things._] Still--I want to go. _Mother_: [_Firmly._] We must take care of Hedwig, Amelia. She is to be a mother. That is our first duty. It is our only hope of an heir if you won't marry soon--and if--if the boys don't come back. _Amelia:_ Arno is left. _Mother:_ Ah, but they'll be calling him next. It is his birthday to-day, too, poor lad. He's on the jump to be off. I see him gone, too. God knows I may never see one of them again. I sit here in the long evenings and think how death may take my boys,--even this minute they may be breathing their last,--and then I knit this baby sock and think of the precious little life that's coming. It's my one comfort, Amelia. Nothing must happen now. _Amelia:_ [_With a touch of impatience._] What's the matter with Hedwig? _Mother:_ I don't know what it is. She acts as if she didn't want to bring her child into the world. She talks wild. I tell you I must have that child, Amelia! I cannot live else. Hedwig frightens me. The other night I found her sitting on the edge of her bed staring,--when she should have been asleep,--as if she saw visions, and whispering, "I will send a message to the emperor." What message? I had to shake her out of it. She refuses to make a thing for her baby. Says, "Wait till I see what they do to Franz." It's unnatural. _Amelia:_ I can't understand her. I never could. I always thought it was because she was a factory-town girl. _Mother:_ If anything should happen to Franz in the state she's in now, Hedwig might go out of her mind entirely. So you had best stay by, Amelia. We must keep a close eye on her. [_There is a knock at the door._] Who's that? _Amelia:_ [_Looks out of the windows, and then whispers._] It's Hans Hoffman. [_The knock is repeated._] _Mother:_ Open, girl! Don't stand there! [_Enter Hoffman, gay, familiar, inclined to stoutness, but good-looking. Accustomed to having the women bow down to him._] _Hoffman:_ [_To Amelia._] Ah, ha! You gave me the slip yesterday! _Amelia:_ My mother. _Hoffman:_ [_Nodding._] Good day, Mother. [_She curtsies._] [_Coming closer to Amelia._] Where did you run to? Here she as good as promised me she would wed me to-day, Mother, and then-- _Amelia:_ Oh, no!