Yesterday there were twenty war brides. The day before there were nearly thirty. To-day there were only ten. There are rumors--[_Excitedly._] I'll report you. They'll find you guilty. I myself can prove it. _Hedwig:_ Well? _Hoffman:_ I heard them say at the barracks that some one was talking the women out of marrying. They didn't know who; but they said if they caught her--caught any one talking as you have just now, daring to question the wisdom of the emperor and his generals, the church, too,--she'd be guilty of treason. You are working against the emperor, against the fatherland. Here you have done it right before my very eyes; you have taken Amelia right out of my arms. You're the woman who's been upsetting the others, and don't you deny it. _Hedwig:_ Deny it? I am proud of it. _Hoffman:_ Then the place for you is in jail. Do you know what will be the end of you? _Hedwig:_ [_Suddenly far away._] Yes, I know, if Franz does not come back. I know; but first [_Clenching her hands_] I must get my message to the emperor. _Hoffman:_ [_Very angry._] You will be shot for treason. _Hedwig:_ [_Coming back, laughing slightly._] Shot? Oh, no, Herr Hans, you'd never shoot me! _Hoffman:_ Why not? _Hedwig:_ Do I have to tell you, stupid? I am a woman: I can get in the crops; I can keep the country going while you are away fighting, and, most important, I might give you a soldier for your next army--for the kingdom. Don't you see my value? [_Laughs strangely._] Oh, no, you'd never shoot me! _Mother:_ There, there, don't excite her, sir. _Hedwig:_ [_Her head in her hands, on the table._] God! I wish you would shoot me! If you don't give me back my Franz! I've no mind to bring a son into the world for this bloody thing you call war. _Hoffman:_ I am going straight to headquarters to report you. [_Starts to go. Enter Arno excitedly. He is boyish and fair, in his early twenties, and looks even younger than he really is._] _Arno:_ [_To Hoffman._] There's an order to march at once--your regiment. _Hoffman:_ Now? _Arno:_ At once. You are wanted. They told me to tell you. [Illustration: ARNO: You are wanted.] [_Hoffman moves with military precision to the door; then turns to Hedwig._] _Hoffman:_ I shall take the time to report you. [_Goes._] _Minna:_ [_To Arno._] Does Heinrich's regiment go, too? _Arno:_ Heinrich who? _Minna:_ Heinrich Berg. _Arno:_ No. To-morrow. [_Minna, now thoroughly scared, is slinking to the door when Hedwig stops her._] _Hedwig:_ Ha! little Minna, why do you run so fast? Heinrich does not go until to-morrow. [_Looks at her thoughtfully._] Are you going to be able to fight it through, little Minna, when the hard days come? If you do give the empire a soldier, will it be any comfort to know you are helping the falling birth-rate? _Minna:_ [_Shivering._] Oh, I am afraid of you! _Hedwig:_