War Brides: A Play in One Act | Page 2

her head.]
No.
Mother:
Ah, well.
Amelia:
I hardly know him. I've only spoken to him once before. O
Mother--that isn't what I want to do.
Mother:
What did you tell him?
Amelia: [Timidly.]

That I was going away to join the Red Cross.
Mother:
Amelia!
Amelia:
He didn't believe me. He kissed me--and I ran away.
Mother:
The Red Cross!
Amelia: [Eagerly.]
Yes; that is what I was going to tell you just now. That is why I was
packing the bag. [Gets it.] I--I want to go. I want to go to-night. I can't
stand this waiting.
Mother:
You leave me, too?
Amelia:
I want to go to the front with Franz and Otto and Emil, to nurse them,
to take care of them if they are wounded--and all the others. Let me,
Mother! I, too, must do something for my country. The grapes are
plucked, and the hay is stacked. Hedwig is gathering the wheat. You
can spare me. I have been dreaming of it night and day.
Mother: [Setting her lips decisively.]
No, Amelia!
Amelia:
O Mother, why?

Mother:
You must help me with Hedwig. I can't manage her alone.
Amelia:
Hedwig!
Mother:
She is strange; she broods. Hadn't you noticed?
Amelia:
Why, yes; but I thought she was worrying about Franz. She adores him,
and any day she may hear that he is killed. It's the waiting that's so
awful.
Mother:
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!
Hoffman:
Yes, you did. You let me kiss you.
Amelia: [Taken aback.]
Oh, sir!
Hoffman:
And when I got to the church square to-day, no bride for Hans Hoffman.
Well, I must say, they had the laugh on me; for I had told them I had
found the