War Brides: A Play in One Act | Page 2

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 girl for me--the prettiest bride of the lot. But to-morrow--
Amelia:
I can't.
Hoffman: [Taking hold of her.]
Oh, yes, you can. I won't bother you long. I'm off to the front any day now. Come, promise me! What do you say, Mother?
Mother: [Slowly.]
I should like to see her wed.
Hoffman:
There!
Amelia: [Shrinking from both him and the idea.]
But I don't know you well enough yet.
Hoffman:
Well, look me over. Don't you think I am good enough for her, Mother? Besides, we can't stop to think of such things now, Amelia. It is war-time. This is an emergency measure. And, then, I'm a soldier--like to die for my country. That ought to count for something--a good deal, I should say--if you love your country, and you do, don't you, Amelia?
Amelia:
Oh, yes!
Hoffman:
Well, then, we can get married and get acquainted afterward.
Amelia: [Faintly.]
I wanted to be a nurse.
Hoffman:
Nonsense! Pretty girls like you should marry. The priests and the generals have commanded it. It's for the fatherland. Ought she not to wed me, Mother?
Mother: [Nodding impersonally.]
Aye, it is for