_Arno:_
I'm a man, like the others; don't forget that, Hedwig. Be brave--to
help me to be brave.
[_They sit on the settle._]
_Hedwig:_ [_Sighing._]
Yes, it cannot be helped. Will you see my Franz, Arno? You look so like
him to-day--the day I first saw him in the fields, the day of the
factory picnic. It seems long ago. Tell him how happy he made me, and
how I loved him. He didn't believe in this war no more than I, yet he
had to go. He dreaded lest he meet his friends on the other side. You
remember those two young men from across the border? They worked all one
winter side by side in the factory with Franz. They went home to join
their regiments when the war was let loose on us. He never could stand
it, Franz couldn't, if he were ordered to drive his bayonet into them.
[_Gets up, full of emotion that is past expression._] Oh, it is too
monstrous! And for what--for what?
_Arno:_
It is our duty. We belong to the fatherland. I would willingly give my
life for my country.
_Hedwig:_
I would willingly give mine for peace.
_Arno:_
I must go. Good-by, Hedwig.
_Hedwig:_ [_Controlling her emotion as she kisses him.
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