Drums are heard coming nearer, and singing voices of men._]
_Amelia:_ [_At door._]
They are passing this way.
_Hedwig:_
Wave to Arno. Come, Mother. Ah, how quickly they go!
[_The official steps out of the door. There is quick rhythm of marching
feet as the departing regiment passes not very far from the house._]
There he is! Wave, Mother. Good-by! good-by!
[_The women stand in the doorway, waving their sad farewells, smiling
bravely. The sounds grow less and less, until there is the usual
silence._]
In another month, in another week, perhaps, all the men will be gone. We
will be a village of women. Not a man left.
[_She leads the old mother into the house once more._]
_Hertz:_ [_In the door._]
What did you say?
_Hedwig:_
Not a man left, I said.
_Hertz:_
You forget. _I_ shall be here.
_Hedwig:_
You are old. You don't count. They think you are only a woman, Herr
Captain.
_Hertz:_ [_Insulted._]
You--you--
_Hedwig:_
Oh, don't take it badly, sir. You are honored. Is the name of woman
always to be despised? Look out in those fields. Who cleared them, and
plucked the vineyards clean? You think we are left at home because we
are weak.
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